Midnight Eyes
by Cockapoo
Summary: Sequel to Ocean Eyes. Nico and Lily are together but apart, and a new threat is approaching. Will they make it?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And as promised, here is the sequel to Ocean Eyes! If you haven't yet, please read Ocean Eyes first – this will make no sense otherwise. For the rest of you, thank you muchly for sticking with me and my first stories, and I hope you enjoy this one! Thank you for reading, and please leave me a review at the end. Love to hear from you! **

Chapter 1

Another tear rolled down her cheek as Lily sat on her bed, the blankets wrapped around her, sick of crying but unable to stop. Memories of the kiss ghosted across her lips, and when she looked towards the window and saw her reflection on the glass, the hickey on her neck made her remember the way the sparks had jolted through her body when Nico had moved his kisses to her neck.

Before she knew it she was weeping silently, the pain she was feeling growing exponentially as her iTouch played Vanilla Twilight by Owl City, the song describing her feelings nearly perfectly. She moaned softly, feeling suffocated as memories of her with Nico crowded through her mind, tainted with flashing images of Chase. Somehow even the thought of letting Chase kiss her the way Nico did made her feel sick – but the worst part was, Lily realized, that she couldn't stand the thought of Nico doing those things with someone else. The thought of him with another girl, kissing her till she was breathless and weak in the knees, leaving purple promises of love on her neck, made Lily see green, the jealousy making her nearly dizzy.

"Lily?"

Dabbing at her eyes and pasting an unconvincing smile on her face, Lily turned around. "Hi Percy," she said.

"What's the matter, why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?" Percy plonked himself down next to her, eyeing her worriedly.

"No, I just…"

"Chase gave you a _hickey_?" Percy exclaimed suddenly. "You let him?"

"No, it was Nico," she choked out, before dissolving into tears again. A few moments later she had calmed herself down, telling herself to quit acting like a drama queen.

"Are you two…back together?"

"No, we were just talking," she sniffled. "Did you get all the stuff together? What time is it? When are we leaving? How – "

"One question at a time, okay? Connor said he and Isabelle will pack backpacks for everyone, Chiron has loaned us a bunch of drachmas and dollars, so we're set in terms of money. There are supposed to be little spray bottle things per group in case we need emergency rainbows. It is around six right now, and I think you know we're heading out at midnight. I saw Jessie on the way here, and she asked me to tell you to meet her and Isabelle by the creek whenever you have time."

"I'll go now," Lily said, untangling herself from her blankets and standing up.

"Hey," he said softly, standing with her. "I…we might not get to say goodbye after this – alone, I mean, and…I know you and Nico are at a tough place right now, and I don't even know how I feel about you two being together, but stick close to him, okay? He knows what he's doing. And he's a good guy. He won't let you get hurt. And stay safe, okay? For me?"

Without answering, Lily pulled her older brother close in a hug, feeling incredibly grateful that he hadn't exploded over her hickey. He really was practically the perfect brother – sometimes, anyway.

"I will," she whispered finally. "And let Annabeth take care of you, okay? She's much smarter than you are." Giggling as he scowled at her, she hugged him again and then walked towards the door, mentally thanking him for the smile on her face.

"We has food!" Jessie shouted when she saw Lily walking towards her and Isabelle. The girls were sitting with their feet in the creek, with sandwiches and fruits spread out on a cloth on the grass.

Lily smiled at them and sat down, helping herself to a strawberry. "Hi guys."

"How'd it go?" Isabelle asked.

Sighing, Lily finished her strawberry and detailed her meeting with Nico.

"Wowww," Jessie teased when she'd finished. "That sounds so hot! I bet you can't wait to run off with him!"

"Shut up," Lily mumbled, blushing bright red. "We aren't running off anywhere. We aren't even together."

"Yeah well after you turned the poor guy down again," Jessie said with a hint of irritation in her voice. "You can't just make out with him and then tell him you don't want him! He knows you're lying, and we do too!"

"It's understandable, though," Isabelle interjected, glaring at Jessie. "But Lily, don't keep pushing him away, okay? Eventually you're going to have to make a decision for sure, and you can't do that if you keep insisting you're dating Chase, who you don't even like as much."

Lily sighed, looking down at her feet, and Jessie took pity on her.

"Have you tried the blackberries yet?" Jessie asked, offering a handful to Isabelle and lily. "They're fantastic, have some. I tend to prefer raspberries, but these are amazing." She prattled on, and soon they were talking about inconsequential topics, until they left to go to the pavilion for dinner.

Afterwards, Lily whiled away the time sitting in one of the trees near Zeus's Fist by herself, carrying a small bag with her weapons and armor in it. She was playing with the bracelet she was wearing, a silver slinky that was made to be wrapped around her wrist, when she heard a faint sound below her. Looking down, she saw Percy and Annabeth creep out of the shadows to stand by the rocks, and moments later Nico melted out of the darkness and joined them, talking quietly. She slid down the tree just as Isabelle, Leo, Jessie, and Connor walked up, each of them carrying a large black backpack.

"Here is your luggage," Connor announced, dumping his back unceremoniously on the ground. "It weighs a ton, so guys, be gentlemen and don't make the ladies carry them. They might get hurt."

Isabelle smacked him, and he yelped. "Shut up," she warned, glaring at him before depositing her own bag on the ground. "One per group," she announced.

"Okay," Annabeth said, putting her hands on her hips, "So Nico, you and Lily will be shadow-traveling, but the rest of us are supposed to be taking pegasi." She turned to stare at Percy. "How are we going to take pegasi if they aren't here yet?"

"They should be," he muttered, staring at the dark skies. "I don't want to whistle – if someone else hears…There they are!"

The pegasi landed gracefully, their hooves thumping against the ground softly.

"Let's go," Percy ordered. "Iris-message us if you need anything, or each other, if your situation gets too unstable get the hell out of there and let us know later."

"Good luck, guys," Annabeth called before letting Percy pull her up onto Blackjack. After hugs and hurried goodbyes, Blackjack, Porkpie, and Guido all rose into the sky, leaving Nico and Lily standing by the rocks together.

Lily was staring at the ground, a faint blush covering her cheeks as she realized they would have to touch each other to shadow-travel – and she didn't trust herself to be able to control her reaction if he were to put his arms around her. His soft footsteps sounded, barely discernable, against the hard ground as he moved to her, and she tensed as she felt him stop so close to her that his sweatshirt-covered arm was pressed against hers, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him stop next to her, gazing in the same direction she was. Then his head turned.

"Shall we go?" he asked quietly.

Trying not to blush, Lily nodded and placed her hand in his when he held it towards her. Moments later Nico had her wrapped in his arms, her head resting on his chest and her hands on his shoulders. Looking up, she watched him close his eyes and crinkle his brow with concentration as he prepared to shadow-travel them away, but then she noticed the leaves of the bush behind him move.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Chase bellowed, rushing out of the bushes with his sword drawn, but before Lily could even react, the scene shifted and wind and darkness assailed her senses as she was dragged into the void.

"Was that Chase?" Nico asked her, steadying her as they materialized in the Fields of Asphodel.

"Yes," she breathed, enjoying the feeling of his hands on her arms. But suddenly she moved away, realizing that she had turned him down earlier. Staying away from him was going to be much harder than she'd thought. "It doesn't matter," she added, noticing the concern in Nico's eyes as he watched her.

He nodded, running his hands through his hair, leaving it delectably tousled, the smooth strands overlapping. "Let's move. Come on." He began to walk, slowing his pace slightly so that it was one with which she was comfortable.

Glancing around her, Lily felt her heartbeat quicken as ghosts drifted around in the distance, and moved slightly closer to Nico as the shadows around her seemed to move on their own. She had hoped he wouldn't notice, but he had. His arm shifted, and he kept his sword drawn, his fingers firm on the hilt.

"You'll be okay," he said softly, keeping his eyes in front of him. "At least for now. You're with me, and most of the creatures down here will leave you alone because of that. Unless they're scarier than I am – in which case you need to be prepared. Keep your sword out."

She unwrapped the hilt of her sword from the slender leather belt around her hips, noticing as she did so that Nico wore a very similar one – but his was black while hers was brown. Blinking away the sudden moisture in her eyes, she drew her sword, deriving comfort from the warm glow it exuded. While her weapon seemed out of place in the Underworld, Nico's blade seemed remarkably at home, appearing to nearly blend into the shadows.

"Where are we going?" she asked finally, trying to break the silence that had become so long it was painful.

"Near Tartarus," he answered evenly, his eyes constantly studying the landscape around them. He was tensed, ready for a fight, she could tell just by his stance.

"Is that safe?"

"Yeah. I know some good vantage points – we just need to keep watch for a while, that's all."

They walked in silence for some more time, before she turned to him again. "You know which god it is, don't you? Or at least you have a good hunch?"

"Yeah," he sighed, scuffing his black sneakers against the ground. After a short pause, he spoke again. "What's worrying me is that my father should have sensed it if something was wrong. He probably knows too…but he's keeping his counsel to himself."

She watched him, studying the emotions swirling in his impossibly dark eyes, and sighed. He was wondering why his father didn't share anything with him, that she could tell. The fear, confusion, and determination in his eyes kept her gaze fixed on him, but what truly struck her was the haunting loneliness they held.

Without thinking, she reached over and grasped his left hand firmly in her right, squeezing slightly as his fingers automatically curled around her hand. She had forgotten how good it felt to hold hands with him – she felt small but safe and cared for. Glancing up, she froze. His eyes were fixed on her, and she could practically hear her own heartbeat as she was rooted to the spot by the intensity of his gaze, the warmth from his hand making her loath to let go. And damn, those midnight eyes…they were beautiful.

**A/N: What do you think? Bounces around happily – like my quick update? Please drop off a review if you did! The little blue button is right below ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: OMG THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! I got 42 for the first chapter of this story! So exciting! So I did my best to write this through all my APs and whatnot so I could update for you guys. Hope you like this chapter! And let's have a special shout-out to all my regular reviewers – there are so many of you that I can't hope to list you all, but I really appreciate how I know I'll see a review from you as soon as I update. Thank you everyone! **

Chapter 2

Nico was staring at her now, but Lily felt something like fear flicker inside her when his expression changed almost imperceptibly. The initial softness that had appeared in his dark eyes when she had taken his hand had vanished, replaced by the cool intelligence those orbs customarily held. Their hands were linked still, but now he was tensed – she felt his grip tighten uncomfortably.

"Nico, I…"

"We need to keep moving," Nico said quietly, removing his hand from hers. She felt her skin protest as his warm, familiar hand left hers, and her chest tightened as his gaze moved away from her. "Come on."

Sighing, Lily trudged after him, looking sadly at his back. He used to wait for her, she remembered. He'd always walked faster than she had, but he would always slow his pace so they could walk side by side. Even their silences had been comfortable. But now he was ahead of her, not even looking back with that adorable little smile to see if she was following him or not.

Feeling her eyes misting up slightly, Lily rubbed the back of her hand against her eyes, angry with herself for letting his indifference affect her so badly. But it had been her fault, really. And she would have to explain this to Chase when they got back – he'd seen them together. Lily scuffed her boot against the ground, thankful for the combination of skinny jeans and suede boots that kept her legs warm. Somehow this part of the Underworld was freezing.

She was absently fingering the hemline of her shirt, walking slowly and watching the ground under her feet, when she heard quick, hard footsteps behind her.

Whirling around and reaching for her sword, Lily let out a shriek of fright that was stifled by a hand at her mouth when it had just passed her lips.

"Screaming for loverboy?" Chase hissed, his eyes glaring furiously at her. But what curbed her urge to knee him somewhere painful was the pain mixed in with the anger. "What are you two doing down here anyway? Running off to spend some time making out? How long have you been cheating on me with him anyway, huh?"

And just like that, all the sympathy and regret she had been feeling for considering dumping him vanished. Shoving him away, Lily took two steps back before speaking. "I have not been cheating on you," she declared, her eyes showcasing her contempt for the very idea, "And I did not come down here just to spend extra time with him. But –"

"Then why are you here?" Chase asked, looking confused.

"I can't tell you," she sighed, knowing even before the words had left her lips that it was the wrong answer. His mouth hardened.

"Fine," he bit out, looking as though ever word tasted sour. "Don't trust me. Couples don't do that, do they?"

"Chase, about the couple thing…" Gods, this was difficult, Lily realized. She just didn't know how to let him down easily, but now she did know that she could never give him her heart. Nico had never returned it to her.

His brown eyes turned to pieces of dyed glass, looking right through her hedging. "You want to end it, don't you," he said, more as a statement than a question. "You still love him." When Lily remained silent, her eyes downcast, he sighed and moved forward to cup her face lightly with his hands. "Can you tell me why? Please?"

"I don't really know," Lily said softly, pulling his hands away from her face. "Chase, I'm so sorry, I tried, but I…this…it isn't right for me. I can't love you like you deserve, and we…we weren't meant to be. Pushing it won't help, and…"

"Fine," he said, his voice low but cuttingly sharp. "It's over, then. But when he gives you nightmares every night, when he leaves you broken and crying and lost, don't come to me. I've tried and tried to pull you away from him, to give you a life and love that will make you happy, but if you don't want it then I can't help you."

Walking away, Chase whistled, and a pegasus swooped down, pawing at the ground as he hoisted himself up. Without a word, he took to the skies, and Lily closed her eyes, fighting the urge to sink to the ground.

Why life was so emotionally draining, she had no idea, but it was started to leave her unable to cope. And why did she never seem to run out of tears? Another excellent question to which she had no response. Drying her eyes tiredly, Lily stared out blindly at the darkness surrounding her. Another tear cooled her heated cheek, and she gave up the fight to stop them, opting instead to simply feel the liquid trickle down her face.

She wasn't crying over Chase, Lily knew that. The guilt was there, the guilt of having left him for someone else, but somewhere deep down she knew that whatever he had felt for her was nowhere close to love – just a crush, probably. He would be fine. And she…she knew what it was to love. And it wasn't what she and Chase had shared.

That had been another problem. There was no sharing with Chase, she realized. She'd never opened up to him, never let him in on her deepest fears and insecurities, or even her little joys. Nico, on the other hand, had known everything about her – sometimes without a single word. He'd been able to read her expressions, her eyes, even her body language, in a way that Chase had never mastered. She and Nico had just clicked.

So, back to why she was crying. Somehow Lily liked to sort of psychoanalyze herself whenever she got too emotional – it was the best road to recovery, she'd found. She was crying because she'd realized all over again how difficult it was going to be to fix her relationship with Nico – and he'd ruined it in the first place! This was not her fault, but she was dealing with all the emotional trauma. He was fine.

Lily rubbed her hands together for warmth and sighed, mentally erasing the last statement. He wasn't fine, she could tell. He just hid it a lot better than she did.

"What are you doing back here?" Nico asked from behind her, sounding annoyed.

Praying that all traces of her tears had vanished, Lily turned around and sent him what she thought was a normal smile. "Just thinking, sorry," she said. "Let's go?"

But of course he was more perceptive than she'd thought. Within moments he was standing barely a foot away from her, making her tilt her head back to see his face. "You've been crying," Nico whispered, and Lily noticed his hand twitch slightly, as if he had to stop himself from reaching for her.

She gave a nervous laugh, brushing her hand over her eyes and feeling moisture cling to it. Darn it. Giving up on pretending, she carefully dried the remaining tears before looking back at him, feeling her stomach flip at the worry and concern in his eyes.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," Lily answered quietly, knowing he could see the lie in her eyes. Unfortunately, it turned out, he could also see the answer.

"Did you meet someone?"

"Nico, it's not –"

He took another step forwards, and now he was mere inches from her. But what held Lily's attention was the way he was shaking slightly, his fists clenched and his face a mask of barely suppressed anger. "Chase, wasn't it? I knew I'd heard something flying." He looked at her again and sighed. "Why are you still with him?"

"I'm –"

"Forget it," he snapped suddenly, and Lily flinched at the sudden hardness in his voice. "Come on, we need to reach there before it's too late."

"But isn't it always dark down here?" she asked, cringing inwardly as the words escaped her lips before she'd realized what she was saying.

To her surprise, Nico chuckled, sending waves of heat and dizziness through her body. Lily blushed furiously, thankful that he wasn't looking at her. Who knew his _chuckle_ could affect her so badly?

"He'll only show up at a certain time," Nico said finally, "But he doesn't always come. I want to be there just in case though – and this way we can keep an eye on Tartarus too."

She hurried after him, envying his smooth tread as she picked her way after him, careful not to trip on stray rocks. The road sloped down slightly and she stiffened, remembering Percy's story about how he had nearly been sucked into one of the pits of Tartarus the first time he had come down here.

"Nico, is this a good idea?" she whispered, unable to stop herself from feeling scared as the slope steepened.

He stopped and looked back at her, his expression slightly amused. "We're not going all the way down," he replied. "We're going to t urn off and climb up a little cliff in a bit. We'll be able to see everything from there."

"Okay," she said, and they continued on into the darkness.

Meanwhile Annabeth and Percy were staring at each other, standing on one of the small hills on Angel Island. It was a beautiful view, and Annabeth found herself entranced by the way Percy's eyes seemed to shine even more brightly when he was so near the domain of his father.

The ocean breeze swirled through their hair and Percy found himself pulling his girlfriend closer.

"Beautiful, isn't it," she whispered, looking straight into his eyes instead of at the ocean around them.

"It so is," he breathed back before bending down to kiss her. He kept it sweet and soft, but she pulled away a few minutes later. "What?" Percy whined, trying to capture her mouth again, but she ducked out of his embrace, laughing.

"Percy, we're here to keep an eye on things, not fool around," she chastised him, trying to curb the smile tugging at his lips as he gave her his most adorable little boy look. "Okay, so I think we'll have the best vantage point from over there" – she pointed – "because we'll be able to stand without being seen and we'll be able to see everything around us because it's so high up and the bushes are really tall. Can you grab the bag and we can get moving?"

He just stared at her, his black hair whipped about by the breeze.

"What? Percy, come on, we don't have all day. At the speed we usually walk at, it'll take us at least four hours to walk that distance, and plus we need to find a good spot to –" She broke off as he kissed her again, deeply this time. Annabeth wound up forgetting what she had been about to tell him, losing herself in his arms and lips.

Finally breaking the contact, Percy stepped away from her, picked up the large backpack they'd brought with them, and started walking in the direction she had indicated. "Are you coming?" he asked her, smirking at her swollen lips, mussed hair, and dazed expression. "We don't have all day," he mimicked, grinning as she snapped out of it and chased after him. Moments later they were running towards the hillock Annabeth had wanted to climb, their laughter floating behind them on the wind.

**A/N: So….review please? Little button is right down there and reviews make my day! So please take a minute and drop one off. Thanks and see you in the next chapter! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, but finals are over! I can now update! Yaay! Enjoy you guys. I love you all. **

Chapter 3

Jessie stomped around, glaring at Leo as he scrunched his face up, staring into the darkness. "There is nothing there!" she hissed, tugging at his sleeve impatiently. "Let's just get going. This place is creeping me out. Why the hell are we even inside the stupid volcano? What if it explodes?"

"If it explodes, _mi amor_, I shall whisk you away from any danger and protect you with my fireproof awesomeness," Leo chuckled, clasping her hand in his. "And we are inside the volcano to see if there's anything we should worry about in here. If not, then we can go camp out underneath the stars outside, okay?"

Jessie glared at him but followed, tightening her grip on his hand. "Leo…"

"Gotcha. But keep your bow of something out then." When she nodded, Leo tucked the short knife he was carrying into the belt around her waist and opened his palm, letting a flame dance along it to light their way. Jessie kept a hand on her bow, tensed and ready to grab an arrow from the quiver on her back at a moment's notice.

"I don't like this," she whispered into his ear. "Let's go, come on, Leo I really think –"

As they rounded the corner something moved into the shadows and Jessie shrieked, loosing three arrows with blinding speed, one after the other. A soft thump told them she had hit her target, and Leo moved towards it with his flaming hand outstretched, Jessie following him with another arrow notched to her bow.

"Oh, for the love of Hades," Leo muttered. There, in front of them, lay a dead rat, three arrows sticking out from it. "It's a rat, Jess," he sighed.

She made a small sound and turned away, feeling sick.

"It's okay," Leo murmured, drawing her close. "Ouch!" he yelped moments later, pulling away from her.

"What?" Jessie snapped as he backed away, before noticing a small but spreading bloodstain on his white shirt. "Gods…what happened, Leo? Are you hurt?" She dropped the bow, reaching for the backpack he was carrying.

"It's fine," he protested. "You hadn't taken the arrow from your bow and it kind of poked me when I tried to hug you. It's fine. I'm okay."

"No you aren't," Jessie nearly wailed, noticing the tear in his shirt. "You're bleeding! And we haven't been attacked yet! I'm so sorry!"

"Jessie, stop," Leo ordered, staring into her deep blue eyes. "Relax. I'm fine, and we need to get this done before it gets so dark we can't get the tent up outside." He grabbed her wrists when she tried to reach for the backpack again. "Jessie. Stop. It."

She glared. "Fine." Grabbing her bow from the floor and picking up the arrow lying next to it, she marched past him, and Leo grinned, despite the bleeding cut on his chest. He liked them feisty.

"Are you coming?" Jessie shouted from somewhere in front of him. "I can't see jack!"

"I knew you couldn't last thirty seconds without me," he grinned, running up to join her. "Here you go, _bonita_." He held out his hand and let the flames curl over it.

"Thanks," Jessie breathed, watching the way the firelight danced in his black eyes and hair.

"Thanks for appreciating," Leo wisecracked, "But we really gotta move, girl. Stare later."

"Shut up," she said, mortified, but they continued through the dark tunnels in the volcano, both praying they wouldn't encounter another rat.

Meanwhile, Connor and Isabelle were hiding behind a clump of bushes in New York's Central Park, staring at each other.

"You actually have no idea?" Connor asked in disbelief, staring at his very angry girlfriend. "Like, absolutely none?"

"We're staying around here somewhere," she snapped, tucking an unruly strand of caramel hair behind her ear.

"But…it could take weeks! You want to stay in a park for weeks? Are you nuts? Let's go find some cool hotel on Fifth!"

"We're staying here," Isabelle said resolutely, hugging her knees, "And that's final. The entrance to the Underworld is nearby, and I am not going to risk some monsters crawling out of there while we're living it up in some hotel, okay?"

"What if the police find us?"

"They won't," Isabelle sighed. "I thought you said you got the Hermes cabin to take care of it for you?"

"Oh yeah," he remembered. The Hermes cabin had the awesome ability to hide travelers from the eyes of mortals – if they so wished. What could he say? He and his siblings – and his father being the god of travelers and thieves and all – was so cool. "We rock," he grinned.

"Shush," she laughed, remembering his smug expression when he'd told her that he had persuaded his cabin mates to hide them.

"So, tent?"

"I thought you said you were going to do it," she said innocently, hiding her grin. "Be all macho and that stuff."

"Yeah, well, the instructions made zero sense and I've never done it before, so I don't think I can."

"And you say your father is the god of travelers," she teased, getting to her knees and pulling the tent, along with instructions, out of the backpack. "Okay, do what I tell you to do and don't argue, all right?"

An hour and a couple fights later, the tent was erected, and –

"Isn't it supposed to be bigger?" Connor asked, staring. The tent was tiny. And he meant tiny.

"We did everything right," Isabelle said nervously, staring at the little black tent in front of them. "And there is room for both the sleeping bags and the backpack and maybe a couple books…we should fit. This will work."

She lifted the bag, grimacing a little at its weight, and marched inside. "Connor! Help me get this stuff out!"

In minutes they had the sleeping bags laid out with the backpack, five books, a map, a packet of Isabelle's favorite gel pens, and a bag of cookies in between them.

"Food," Connor sighed with rapture, opening the bag.

Isabelle slipped her hand into it before he did, helping herself to a chocolate chip cookie. "These are great," she commented. "Hestia is my favorite goddess. Ever."

"What?"

"She gave Nico a bag of these for each pair," Isabelle said, raising her eyes to his surprised face and laughing. "She really likes him – I think he was the first demigod in years and years to notice her and say hello. Apparently these will never run out."

"All hail the cookies!" Connor shouted, grabbing another. "How come my dad can't cook? He just gives everyone vitamins."

Staring at him, Isabelle suddenly burst out laughing, clutching her sides.

"What?" Connor just looked confused, making her laugh harder.

"Nothing," she smiled, reaching over the food and pulling him in for a sweet kiss. "We should get some sleep – it's late. Keep your sword next to you, okay? You might need it."

"I know," Connor rolled his eyes, showing her how he'd slipped his sword beneath his sleeping bag the moment they'd entered the tent. "I'm not a total idiot." He smiled when she kissed him softly again and hugged her for a moment before letting go and sliding into his sleeping bag. "Good night," he whispered.

For a moment there was silence, and then he heard a contented sigh. "Good night, Connor."

But deep underground, things weren't nearly as peaceful as they were in Central Park. Lily and Nico had spent the past three hours laying on a rough, rocky cliff watching the pits of Tartarus below them. Lily hated it. She could _feel _the evil rising from below her, and for once she wished that she hadn't pushed Nico away when he'd kissed her earlier. She would give anything to have those strong arms around her.

Nico eyed his ex-girlfriend as she shifted her body every two minutes. They were facedown on the edge of the cliff, with an excellent view of…a pit. She was uncomfortable, he knew that, but so was he. But was he complaining? No. Then again, Lily wasn't complaining either.

He sighed and pushed himself up. There was a better way to do this – he'd just refused to admit it before because, terrible as it sounded, he had wanted to make her suffer a bit for rejecting him _after _letting him kiss her.

Lily glanced up as Nico rose into a crouch next to her, motioning for her to follow him. They moved down the cliff until they could no longer be seen by anyone who could be below them, and Nico found a sheltered spot near some large rocks to hide behind.

"Let's do this differently," Nico said, his voice a low murmur. Lily shivered at the sound, and noticed his eyes drop to her bare arms. "You didn't bring a sweater?" he asked in surprise, looking down at the short-sleeved scoop neck she was wearing. Black did look good on her.

"No, but it's okay, I'm not cold," she said, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around herself to keep warm.

Unfortunately, she realized that Nico was a lot more observant than she thought – again – as his eyebrows nearly disappeared into his soft hair.

"I can see the goosebumps on your arms," he informed her, tugging at the zipper of his grey sweatshirt. "Here, put it on, I don't really need it," he said, handing her the clothing. "Take it!" he urged when she remained unresponsive.

Hesitantly, she took it and slipped it around her shoulders, zipping it up to a few inches below her collarbone. It was so blessedly _warm _that she closed her eyes, burrowing into the overly-large garment. "Thank you," she whispered, raising her eyes to his. And what she saw in those dark eyes made her freeze.

There was warmth dancing through them – and admiration. It was gone the moment her eyes met his, but she knew she had seen it. He liked the way she looked in his sweatshirt, she could tell. And before she knew what she was doing, Lily was blushing, the blood rushing to her cheeks and suffusing her neck.

Nico stared at her, noticing for what must have been the thousandth time how beautiful she looked when she blushed. Her eyelashes were brushing her cheeks as she lowered her eyes in confusion, looking petite and elfish in his sweatshirt, which was way too large for her. Without thinking about it, he reached out for her, feeling like a parched man reaching for water.

**A/N: PLEEEASE REVIEW! It'll motivate me to get the next chapter up ASAP! :D **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Guess what? Another chapter! Unless I checked the last date wrong, it's been only four days since my last update! Whoopee! And I must say, thank you so much you guys for all the reviews! Over 100 and in only three chapters! I am so lucky to have you guys. Can we keep up all the reviews? You have no idea how much it helps. Cookies for everyone! Enjoy the next chapter. I made it a little longer to make up for the insanely short previous one :P**

Chapter 4

His hands cupped her face gently, and Lily felt herself move towards him, melting into his strong hands. Nico was bending towards her and her eyes fluttered shut as his head bent down towards hers, his warm breath brushing lightly over her lips.

Lily parted her lips slightly, tilting her head back and waiting for that mind-numbing, earth-shaking, utterly amazing kiss that Nico had always been more than willing to give her. But suddenly she felt him tense and then he pulled away, his hands leaving her face.

"What's wrong?" Lily whispered, unable to quell the disappointment she felt as he stood up, walking away from her, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. He was wearing a black t-shirt and his veins were ridges in his toned arms.

"You have a boyfriend," he muttered bitterly, keeping his back to her. "And I can't…" He broke off, and Lily rose from the ground, her boots making soft sounds against the hard ground as she approached him.

Her heart was beating against her ribs like a trapped bird battering its wings against its cage, but something told her to try. To make him see what he had been blind to – that she loved him deeply, madly, that she would suffer agony and death to stop him shedding a single drop of blood. That she would remove herself from his life, destroying her every chance of happiness, if it would bring a smile to his face.

Stepping around him, she put her hands on his shoulders, a small but nervous smile claiming her lips as he looked at her. "I _had_ a boyfriend," Lily breathed, standing on her toes, closing her eyes, and aiming her mouth at his.

But of course Nico wanted to do everything the hard way. He moved slightly away from her, but let her keep her little hands on his shoulders. "What do you mean?" he asked, praying that she meant what he thought, but unwilling to assume anything. Could he really be free to claim her back? Could she be willing to take him? Could she still care for him?

Lily sighed, perfectly aware of the doubts playing inside his head – after all, she had them too. "We broke up when he came down here," she confirmed, "And Nico, I've – I wanted to say this to you for a long time, but I just never really – I mean, what I want to say is that…" she trailed off, but her head snapped back up when Nico sighed disappointedly. "I love you," she said, so strongly that she was shocked.

And then she turned a bright red, staring at his chest instead of his unfathomable eyes.

Nico felt his heart jump in his chest, the feeling of elation threatening to demolish his ability to think. All he wanted to do, he realized, was to press her tightly to him and never ever let her go. Ever. And he was busy fighting the urge to do just that when he had another epiphany – he no longer had to.

Lily had been staring unhappily at her boots – convinced that he didn't return her…_feelings _for him – when his strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her towards him. Shocked, she stared up at him, having to tilt her head back because he was so much taller, especially when she was flush against him, but she finally saw in his eyes what she'd always wanted to see.

He was smiling down at her, his hands resting on her waist, and she was suddenly conscious of the way he was holding her, of the way her body was pressed so close to his, of the way they were breathing in unison, their chests rising and falling together.

Nico was bending towards her again, his eyes fixed on her mouth, and her own were fluttering shut when, for the _thousandth _time, he tensed against her. But this time he was still holding her close.

"What –" Lily broke off when Nico covered her mouth with his hand, his eyes still focused on something in the darkness she couldn't see.

"Thanks," he muttered quietly, still gazing intently at the patch of darkness. "That was Bianca," he explained to Lily, removing his hand from her mouth gently. "I asked her to keep an eye on that pit for me and let me know when someone arrives. I figured we'd still like to get a look at whoever shows up. And apparently he's showing up."

"Let's go!" Lily scampered towards the edge of the cliff, but Nico hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her back towards him as if she were a rag doll.

"Not so fast," he breathed into her ear, smirking as he watched goosebumps erupt over his skin as his breath ghosted over it. "Listen to me first. We don't know who it is – but it is a god. So don't do anything rash, okay? We don't want him to know we're there."

"Okay, now let's go," she whined, taking his hand and dragging a chuckling Nico behind her as she approached the cliff again. It just felt so nice to be able to take his hand whenever she wanted to, even if she couldn't kiss him because some stupid god just had to come and show up when they didn't want him to.

They settled at the edge of the overhanging cliff again, peering down. There was definitely someone there – tall, strong build, definitely male. There was a cruel-looking double-handed sword hanging at his side, but his face was turned in the wrong direction.

"Turn around…turn around you stupid little freaking bastard…" Nico was staring down below, his brow furrowed with concentration as he mentally eliminated gods based on the build of the man before him.

"Looks like Ares," Lily whispered, tugging at Nico's sleeve.

"I don't think it is." He shifted his position so that he had a slightly better view of the god below. "I just…somehow I know it isn't him. It would be too damn simple if it were Ares. And besides, I can't be sure but it looks like this guy is a bit smaller than Ares."

They fell silent, but the god simply stood there. Suddenly he walked towards the largest pit and tossed something flaming inside, lighting up the darkness of the pit as it fell through it. Chuckling, he turned towards them and vanished into the darkness.

"Crap," Nico moaned, falling over onto his back.

"Do you know who it is?" Lily sat up, watching him.

"Yeah," he groaned, sitting up and moving close to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It's Enyalius."

"Who?"

Nico laughed, the sound vibrating through her chest, making her smile. "He's a minor god, but gets confused with Ares a lot. If you look back through mythology they tended to sometimes refer to Ares as Enyalius and sometimes differentiate Enyalius as a separate god. He's an attendant of Ares, a minor god of war, really."

"That still doesn't make sense," she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "If he's a god, why would he want to wake Typhon and whatever else is down there? I mean, he's going to have to fight too, right? And after everything Percy did after the last time I don't think –"

"I don't know why either," he muttered, burying his face in her wavy dark hair, "But I can guess. He's still a war god, right? Maybe he just likes having battles to fight. All this peace must be driving him _and _Ares crazy, but Ares is just a bit too intelligent to do something this big. But if the rumors are right, there is something definitely going wrong on Olympus, what with them picking fights with each other all the time. Apparently they've been splitting into camps every day – the only really consistent things are that Poseidon and Zeus can't see each other's faces without arguing, Aphrodite can't stand Athena, and Artemis thinks that all the other gods are idiots, especially her brother. So honestly, I don't think they have any idea what they're doing."

"Why is it that they're the gods, but we need to get in there and save them every single darn time?"

Nico chuckled and raised his head to look at her. Lily was still swimming in his sweatshirt, which came slightly below the middle of her skinny jean-clad thighs, but her sea-green eyes were smoldering with irritation. There was no other way to put it, he decided. She looked damn hot.

Fiddling with a strand of her hair, he was trying to decide whether or not to kiss her when she sneezed violently, and he rolled his eyes. Way to ruin the moment.

"I think we should put the tent up," she said, sniffling slightly before sneezing again. "Why is it so cold? Can we go camp out near the flames of hell or something? At least it'll be warm."

Nico grinned and pulled her up, keeping her hand in his even after she stood. Lily watched him for a moment, admiring the way his soft hair blew about in the slight breeze, before launching herself at him and knocking him down with her tackle-hug.

"Hey," he laughed, wrapping his arms around her in response, "That hurt. Do you really have to knock me down to tell me you think I look good?" Nico smirked when she blushed. "Come on, I saw you staring."

Lily slapped his chest lightly with her palm as she lay on top of him, grinning despite herself. "Ego problems," she giggled.

But of course two teenagers can't stay long in that position without realizing it. Lily felt herself blushing as Nico placed one warm hand on her waist, the other rising to play with her hair as it brushed his neck.

Without waiting for him to take the lead, Lily lowered her head, encasing him in a waterfall of cascading dark waves, and placed her lips lightly on his. Nico didn't even raise his head, but she decided to keep control of the kiss as long as she could, and kept it soft. Without saying a single word, she wanted to tell him exactly how she felt about him – and judging by the sweet, deep moan that escaped him, she was succeeding.

"Okay," Nico gasped out, finally breaking the sweet kiss, "My turn."

She squealed as he flipped her over, moving his body over hers and bending down to kiss her collarbone. "Oh…gods…Nico what…" Lily wound up mumbling incoherently as he began to trail kisses back up her neck after leaving a hickey near her collarbone.

Suddenly his lips claimed hers again, but this time the kiss was different. It was controlled, but barely, letting her feel all the passion raging inside of him. He was crazy for her, that much was obvious, and Lily felt herself responding with equal fervor, trying to tell him that he meant as much to her as she did to him, if not more.

Finally, dizzy with the complete lack of oxygen, Lily broke the kiss, but she got barely half a breath of air before he was kissing her again, their tongues dancing together as he deepened it. Nico had placed one hand behind her neck to support her head, helping her hold it up away from the hard ground as he kissed her. The other hand was stroking her waist, sending delightful tingles through her as he did so.

"I love you," Nico told her, breaking the kiss suddenly. Lily gave a breathless little giggle, lacking enough oxygen to actually speak. "No, I'm serious. I really do."

"Okay," Lily said, a little worried that his lips weren't on hers. She tried to tug his head back down but he pinned her wrists to the ground, shackling them with his very strong hands. She pouted.

"Here," he said, rolling his eyes and dropping a quick kiss on her pouting lips before pulling back up. "Now listen to me before you make me forget what I want to say again. I…love you. So much. I don't think you have any idea. It was killing me to see you with Chase – it really was. And when you kissed me and walked away, I damn near died."

Lily tried to say something, but he shook his head. "Let me finish," he said, his eyes pleading with her to stay silent. "It's just…I try not to be too possessive or anything, and I really did want you to be happy, even if it wasn't with me, but it hurt so much to do that – to push you away when I wanted to hold you. To think of someone else kissing you when that used to be my right and no one else's. But I guess I'm just really scared of losing someone again."

He licked his dry lips, noticing her eyes darken slightly as he did so, and continued with a ragged chuckle. "Everyone I really cared about left me. It's tough to live with that, you know? I taught myself not to hold on too tightly to anyone because in the end, they all leave you. Even the best people die. And look who my father is – you'd think that was a lesson life didn't have to teach me."

Hearing a sniffle, Nico looked down to see his girlfriend – finally! – dissolving into quiet tears. "Oh, princess don't cry, I didn't –"

"I'm so sorry!" she wailed, throwing her arms around his neck. He sat up, and she did too, crying into his shirt. "I shouldn't have let you go, I _knew_ about – about Bianca and everything – I'm such an idiot, I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I –"

"Shhhh." Nico rubbed her back, kissing the tears from her cheek. "It really isn't your fault. I pushed you to it. Please don't feel guilty. All I was trying to – just, don't leave me again. Please. Unless I do something really stupid and deserve it."

Lily gave him a tearstained smile, and he couldn't help thinking it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "I will never ever" – she choked a little – "ever ever leave you again. Not even if you do something stupid. You are stuck with me from now on out."

"You are the only person I'd be willing to be stuck to," he smiled, nuzzling her neck. They spent another few minutes kissing, and then Lily pulled away.

"Nico, the tent," she said with a little laugh. "I'm sleepy as heck. Can we set it up now?"

Grumbling a little, he stood up and began rifling through the backpack. "Okay, let's get this done. But I get to kiss you again once it's done, yeah?"

"Sure," she giggled, blushing a little at the promise of kisses yet to come. Lily skipped towards him, earning a grin and a raised eyebrow. "Why did we ever break up?" she asked, pirouetting into his arms and letting him lift her up, bridal style, to twirl her around.

"No clue," he grinned, bending to kiss her again as the tent lay on the ground, completely forgotten.

**A/N: Little blue button? Please? **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This chapter, dear readers, is different. Why? I didn't write it. Hehe. I really didn't. For this one you can thank the wonderful mangoesandyogurt, who wrote this for me. But I'm going to include a little warning: the action scenes in the beginning section with Nico and Lily are not for especially young readers, or squeamish ones. It isn't too bad but…well…let's say if you don't want to read it when it starts, you can skip a couple lines down. But you should be fine. I was fine, and I hate blood/gore – which there isn't any, by the way. Enough of me rambling though – and don't be too scared, I think I made it sound much, much worse than it is. Enjoy the chapter! And thank you, mangoesandyogurt! **

Chapter 5

The sound was awful. It was as if a million souls were crying out at once, screaming and begging for their freedom. Lily shivered, jumping slightly at the sound and pulling out her sword. Both she and Nico were poised, ready to strike at whatever came their way. But inside, Lily was shaking. Her hand shivered softly, the action not going unnoticed by Nico.

"Lily?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice. He wanted so badly to just wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was alright, that she would be fine. But he knew it wasn't the time. He would have time later anyways.

"What? We're a bit busy here," she said, biting her lip softly. She didn't mean for it to sound so mean. If anything, she just wanted to reassure him that she was fine. But now, his jacket draped over her shoulders, she just felt bad. "Sorry."

"Its fine," he said, his voice calm and reassuring. He knew how much pressure she was in. "We should go find out where that came from."

He climbed his way back up to the surface of the cliff, holding his hand out to her to help her up. She reached her hand up to him and he gripped her arms right over the elbows, lifting her up with him, the force knocking both of them over. She blushed softly as she landed on him, a blush creeping across her cheeks. He smiled up at her and pecked her lips softly. She smiled back down at him, lost in his dark yet warm eyes. They would have stayed like that forever had it not been for the second round of screeching that echoed around them.

Lily jumped to her feet, shivering slightly at the noise as Nico pulled himself up beside her. They ran, following the echoing sound down the dark, black streets, the souls of the dammed begging for his mercy as he passed. He was too absorbed in the challenge at hand to even throw them a glance as he walked briskly, Lily following closely behind.

"Get out your sword," he commanded, pulling his own black blade from his pocket. She did as she was told, pulling the object from its sheath and getting into stance. She had her back to him but she had the urge to take his hand, something she knew she couldn't do. Distractions were not something she needed now. But she needed the comfort he brought her. So she took his hand, giving it a soft squeeze as they awaited the force that was about to hit them.

He watched as the shadow pulled itself from what seemed like nowhere, the screeching that sounded like hoards emanating from it's mouth. The creatures skin hung off of it, half dead, it's wounds festering as if they had been rotting for millions of years. The name reached Lily just as the word slipped from Nico's lips.

"It's a... Ghoul?" he whispered, his voice unsure. Ghouls weren't Greek, nor were they Roman. Of course, ghosts were. But ghouls. Nico himself had never seen one. In fact, the last he'd heard of them was in History class. The deathly creature was from a completely different time period.

"Creatures more ancient than time itself," Lily said, voice tinted with a mixture of both awe and disgust. "These haven't come out in-"

"Thousands, if not millions, of years," Nico said, completing her sentence.

One after another, the creatures gathered until approximately fifteen stood before the pair of demigods, surrounding them in a circle of dead flesh and exposed bone, causing Lily to shudder.

"Do you know how to defeat them?" she asked.

"No idea," he admitted as the creatures gathered ever closer to them. Nico let go of her hand, moving forward and slashing through one of the creatures, watching as the creature miraculously turned to dust, it's spirit sinking down into the ground. He turned back to her for a second, smiling softly. But the battle had not yet been won.

Lily slashed through yet another but the half dead body grabbed at her blade, twisting it from the hilt and causing Lily to grunt. She attempted to free her blade from the creatures grip yet it held strong, bending the blade slightly under the force of the two. He twisted further, her arms twisted far past their limit. She bit back the tears that were forming in her eyes from the pain and thrust forward quickly, slicing the creature's hands and piercing it in the chest. She looked away as the gruesome body fell to the ground, dissolving to powder as the soul sunk deeper, just as the last had.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, when another ghoul ran at her from the back. She was completely unaware as Nico sliced the demon in the throat. He shivered, three down, twelve to go.

Lily sliced at yet another one as Nico decapitated three more, the bodies falling with loud thuds or exploding into powder. As Lily attacked another, Nico set his sights on one in particular. Was it...commanding the others?

"I'll be right back," he whispered to Lily, racing into the crowd of monsters, attempting to avoid touching them. He thrust forward, poised and catlike in his movements. The creature stopped the sword with its arm, beginning a strange and disgusting fight, sword against bone.

The ghoul was strong yet inflexible, talented yet slow. It was like fighting someone's martial arts trained grandfather. While Nico had the advantage, the ghoul was more talented.

It gripped the sword in its hand, just as the other had done to Lily, and jerked it rapidly out of Nico's grasp, leaving him in shock. He turned back to Lily, throwing her a worried look, before looking back towards the creature.

Lily panicked, her eyes wide and frightened like those of a deer trapped in the headlights. She only had one left to defeat yet Nico was stuck, unarmed, with the strongest one of them all. She focused on defeating the one before her, knowing that then she could freely go help him without the issue of being stabbed in the back by the creature she was just battling. She bit her lip and thrust her sword forward, slicing off one of the creatures arms. She avoided looking at the severed object, knowing it would only make her sick.

She finally managed to cut the demons head clean off, again avoiding looking at the gruesome, bloody thing. She wiped the blood clean with the sleeve of Nico's sweatshirt, turning back towards him. What she saw made her run.

Her feet seemed to move on their own accord as she reached his side, brandishing her sword once more. Nico had a large gash going down his chest to where his shirt met his dark jeans. Again, she was at a fork in the road. Either she could retreat with Nico and try to save him or she could just chop that damn ghoul and finish off the fight. She took the latter option, mustering whatever power she could and inflicting it upon the creature.

The shock that she inflicted was so great that the force was transmitted right into the ground below her, cracking it open in an earsplitting boom. Her breath was shaky with the energy drain but she continued it until the crack in the ground became a full scale pit. She took the ghoul by surprise, hitting the creature with the hilt of her sword and slashing it through the gut one last time before knocking it off the edge, into the void.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth had seen a fight of their own, and were also struggling through the aftermath. The sound of someone calling him took Percy by surprise as he finished bandaging Annabeth's wounds, causing him to jump. Annabeth smiled weakly at him, mouthing the name Lily at him, the weakness obviously pulling her under slowly. He gave her an apologetic smile as he responded to the Iris Message.

"Lily, I'm a little busy here," he said as he pulled out some ambrosia from a box, his eyes not settling on the screen.

"P-Percy."

Now that scared him.

He turned completely, eyes filled with worry at the sound of Lily's voice. "Lily? Everything alright there?"

She shook her head, now near tears as she tried to help Nico. "I-It's Nico. He's h-hurt. It's bad, really bad. The cut goes from his chest to his abdomen and it's deep! P-Percy... What do I do?"

She was desperate, that much Percy could tell. He turned to Annabeth, hoping she would somehow know what to do. She shook her head sadly. "I don't know what to do," she croaked.

He sighed and turned back to the screen, shaking his head. "We've got nothing. But try to catch up with Leo and Jessie. Jessie might help," he offered, sighing.

"Try Isabelle too," Annabeth said, her voice barely above a hoarse whisper. "She's d-dabbled in medicine."

"If you can't reach Jessie, Annabeth says to try Isabelle. She might be able to help you too. I've kind of got a bit of a dilemma at hand so I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"

Lily nodded and Percy ran a hand through the image, breaking the connection. Annabeth let out a soft groan and Percy went back to spoon feeding her the ambrosia. She smiled softly up at him in thanks and he returned the soft smile, staring into her warm grey eyes.

"Now, don't go trying to save my ass again," he said with a soft smirk. "Or I might have to keep you from battle."

"If I don't save it, nobody will," she whispered hoarsely, smiling in amusement. "And you are the last thing I want to lose."

He kissed her forehead softly, his hand taking hers. "I don't want to lose you either, Wise Girl."

While Annabeth and Percy had their moment, Isabelle and Connor had one too – but it was very different. "It's not like I'm not dying here," Isabelle complained, biting her lip as she attempted to hold her broken leg. Of course, Connor had no idea how to fix it, having never broken a bone.

"What do I do to it?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Just set it," she seethed, the pain throbbing in her leg.

The break was clean through, her leg twisted at an odd and gruesome angle. She knew shed be stuck in a wheelchair for Zeus knew how long yet she also knew that if she didn't set the leg quickly, it would be more painful later. Then again, Connor would probably chicken out if he tried to set it for her. He could never bear to _anyone_ in pain, let alone his girlfriend.

"I-I'll set it," Isabelle said finally, her voice trembling slightly. She had to admit: she was scared to death of the pain she would feel. But she knew it would be worse if she simply left it the way it was now. "But it's going to hurt like Hades."

Connor gave her a worried look and took her hand. "Isn't it dangerous to set these things on your own?"

She gave him a look like 'are you stupid?' When she realized he wasn't kidding, her eyebrows rose in amusement. "Well, leaving it at this angle is not fun, comfortable, practical or safe," she explained. "And besides, I can't just walk into any old hospital here in Manhattan and tell them 'oh, I got attacked by a group of giants and a griffin.' They'd most likely stare at me as if I were psychotic and send me to a mental institution."

Connor laughed softly, kissing her cheek. "Most likely I'd set off some sort of distraction by then and we'd run."

"And that would defeat the purpose of going to the Hospital in the first place," she said with a laugh. He shrugged and she bit her lip again. "I need to do this, Connor."

He sighed softly and took her hand, gripping it tightly in his own. After a few moments, he let go, stepping back to let her do her work. One hand on each side, tugging slightly to re-align it, the pain growing and throbbing as she-

"Isabelle, Connor!"

She shut her eyes tightly in frustration and let go of her leg, turning her head towards the sound. "What?"

"Its Jessie and Leo," Jessie said, the smile on her face very much contradicting the scowl on Isabelles. "How'd it go?"

"I'm afraid to say it didn't go too well. We defeated them but I'd say Isabelle's in wheelchair only mode," Connor explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Jessies eyes grew wide, her expression scared. "What happened? What kind of fracture is it? Is it a hairline fracture?"

"If it was a hairline fracture, I wouldn't be like this now would I?" Isabelle snapped, suddenly sorry for having sounded so harsh. "Sorry, Jessie. It just hurts... Hurts like Hades."

Jessie smiled sympathetically, sighing softly as she spoke. "Don't be sorry. Just try to set it and drink some nectar as you do. It'll ease the pain as you push it back into place. And Connor, if you aren't helping her, stay out of the vicinity."

Connor tilted his head in confusion, unsure of why she wanted him to stay away. "Why?"

"Because a girl in pain always targets the nearest living thing, amigo," Leo laughed as he appeared on the screen.

Connor laughed softly, taking Isabelles hand and rubbing circles in it. Even Isabelle was amused.

"Don't worry," Isabelle assured them. "He might leave with a bruise but he'll come back whole. How is everyone else? We haven't spoken to anyone else yet."

"Annabeth got a bad cut in the shoulder and a bite from something or other in the leg. She's doing good-ish but not the best. It's Nico I'm worried about..." Jessie sighed.

"What happened to Nico?" Connor asked worriedly. "Is he hurt?"

Jessie sighed and ran a hand through her fiery red hair. How would she explain this without getting them too worried? Heck, _she_ was worried out of her mind for the pair in the underworld. But she had to keep everyone from panicking.

"Just a cut," she said, smiling softly in an attempt to smooth everything over. But being a son of Hermes, Connor wasn't fooled.

"I'll just call them later," he said. "But for now, I kind of need to help Isabelle out."

Jessie smiled apologetically once more. "Report to Percy later, he wants to know how everyone's doing in an hour."

Connor nodded and moved a hand through the image, breaking the connection before turning back to Isabelle. He pulled some nectar from his bag and began to feed it to her as she prepared herself to set the bone once more.

"It seems like everyone's had it rough," she said, wincing as she began to move the bone once more.

"I really do hope they're alright," he sighed. He gave her a worried look as she winced heavily. "Gods, Isabelle, maybe you should go slower..."

"N-no," she said through clenched teeth. "I'm f-fine."

He fed her some more nectar as she slowly set the bone, a painful and time consuming process. Somewhere in all of that she had managed to take one of his hands, squeezing it so tightly he was afraid he would lose the blood flow.

Eventually, the grip on his hand slackened and she rummaged through her bag. She pulled out a roll of gauze and some other casting materials. He watched in awe as she quickly made a makeshift cast, using a broken branch nearby as a splint.

"Now we just wait for it to dry," she sighed, leaning back into Connors chest. He wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her arm. And slowly she fall asleep, her head on his chest and his arms protectively around her, safe from all harm.

**A/N: Thoughts? Comments? I will try to update after this – she saved me from having to finish the next chapter already! But more is coming, and I will try to clear up any confusion from my last chapter in the one to come. Reviews? Speaking of which, I was a little sad with the last chapter. I thought there would be more reviews, but I barely got any! It was heartbreaking. Sniffle. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So a quick little note for you all. One of my lovely reviewers, Peace-Love-Twilight-Forever, sent me the perfect song for this story. It's called Broken Arrow, by Pixie Lott, and it fits the ending of Ocean Eyes and the start of this story so well! Please go check it out! And thank you, Peace-Love-Twilight-Forever! And without further ado, here is Chapter 6.**

Chapter 6

"Nico," Lily gasped, falling to her knees next to him again. She'd just finished a rushed conversation with Jessie trying to figure out what to do, but they'd been cut short when a stray ghost had somehow managed to break the connection, and she'd decided to check on Nico and try to help him instead of re-contacting her friend.

He lay there, on his back, his dark eyes full of pain but a brave smile on his face. "I'm okay," he grunted, trying to sit up to prove it.

"Don't you dare move, Nico di Angelo," she threatened, pushing back her tears as she looked around. Crap. They'd left the backpack behind with their still un-erected tent. How could she heal him with absolutely no supplies?

"I'm going to be right back, okay Nico? I just need to run down and get our bag. Just…I'll be right back. Don't move even an inch, okay?" Before he could respond she took off, running faster than she ever had before, desperately hoping she could remember the way towards their "campsite." But thankfully she did, and soon she was scooping up the bag and racing back. Her heart was pounding, a stitch in her side screaming for attention, but all she could think of was Nico, lying in a pool of blood…oh gods.

Lily fell to her knees next to him, emptying the backpack onto the ground beside her as she searched through it for the pouch of medical supplies Jessie had told her she'd put in each bag. "Come on, come on," she muttered, finally finding the bright pink pouch – go figure, she thought – and unzipping it. She pulled out some clean white cloth first, and turned to Nico.

"Nico!" she shrieked. He was unconscious, blood trickling in a thin stream from the corner of his mouth. The dark hair partially covering a cut on his forehead contrasted sharply with the deathly paleness of his skin.

"Crap, crap, crap," she muttered, so panicked that she forgot not to swear. Apparently Nico's good and bad habits were rubbing off. She'd been going to feed him some nectar or ambrosia first before cleaning the wound and trying to apply something to it, but how was she supposed to feed him anything if he was passed out? And would he wake up?

Taking the large steel flask filled with nectar from the bag, she unscrewed the lid and tipped some of the slow-moving liquid into his open mouth, massaging his throat to help him – hopefully – swallow. Lifting the cloth into her hands, she closed her eyes and focused, willing the cloth to dampen and being grateful that she was the daughter of the Sea God.

Gently, Lily began to dab the blood away from the wound, trying to avoid looking directly at the deep, ugly gash. It was still bleeding, and she felt her heart throbbing. She wasn't Jessie – she wasn't used to treating even minor scrapes, let alone something…life-threatening. But Nico wasn't going to die. She wouldn't let him.

Speaking of Nico, his eyes were open again.

"Nico," she gasped, bending over him. "Nico, listen to me! No, no!" His eyes were fluttering shut, and in desperation she grabbed a piece of ambrosia from a little packet and pushed it into his mouth. "Eat this, listen. You need to keep your eyes open, do you hear me? Nico!"

He mumbled something but chewed slowly on the ambrosia while she finished mopping up enough of the blood to see his hopelessly torn shirt. Trying to stay focused, she slipped the torn material off his shoulders, letting it fall onto the ground. For a moment she let her eyes wander over him, taking in his slender but toned frame, when something warm and wet touched the hand she had let rest on his abdomen. He was bleeding again.

She began to dab at the liquid, but suddenly Nico, who had been slightly revived by the ambrosia, hissed loudly in pain and grabbed her wrist. "Salt?" he growled, biting his lip and drawing blood as his body was racked with spasms, a wave of agony rolling over him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she breathed, realizing that she shouldn't have used her own powers to wet the cloth. Daughter of the Sea God, not Freshwater God. Shoot.

"Just…let me go," he sighed, sinking back to the ground, perspiration beading on his forehead.

"What?"

"Look at me," he said quietly, resignation in his voice. "This is something you can't heal. It's so deep, even the ambrosia is _barely _dulling the pain. And you aren't Jessie – you aren't a child of Apollo, you can't fix me. Just let go. I'll see you again one day." Nico sent her a brave smile, but she could see his eyes glimmering.

"Shut up," Lily said, her voice shaking. "You are going nowhere. And I told you – you're stuck with me. I'm not a daughter of Apollo – my daddy's Poseidon. Get used to it. I already lost you once, and I refuse to lose you again. I can heal you. Now shut up and do what I say."

Digging around in the bright pink pouch again, Lily pulled out a small container labeled "Salve – for Injuries" in Jessie's girly cursive. Giving Nico one more drink of nectar, she scooped out a generous amount of the salve, feeling a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. It was a pale pink color and smelled of roses, Jessie's favorite flowers. She missed her best friend.

"Pink? Really?" Nico rolled his eyes, and Lily giggled lightly. It was obvious he was still in extreme pain, but she appreciated his effort to mask it. He grinned back at her but suddenly his face twisted and he began to cough, his breathing loud and labored. The attack ended as quickly as it had started, but when he dropped his head back onto the ground, Nico felt it land on something soft. Lily had slipped off his sweatshirt, folded it, and placed it behind his head and neck as a makeshift pillow.

"Thanks," he rasped, and she gave him a smile that failed miserably at masking her terror as she wiped the blood from his lips.

"Anytime," she replied softly, praying to any god that would hear her that there would never be another time. And that he survived this.

Placing her left hand on his right shoulder, Lily bent over him and gingerly began rubbing the salve into the cut, starting at the top of the wound, right above his heart.

"Damn it, Lily, I'm not going to break," he groaned from beneath her. "Just rub it in as hard as you need to."

"Is it helping you?" she asked, obeying him and pushing it deeper into the jagged, gaping wound with her fingers, trying to ignore the blood flowing over her fingers.

"Yes," he breathed. The pain had dulled slightly, even though she'd only started to apply whatever pink goop she had been holding a jar of. It was also heightening his senses somehow, or at least letting him transcend the pain – wow, he sounded like he'd swallowed a dictionary – and he could feel one of her cool hands resting on his fevered skin, the pulse in her wrist beating frantically against his shoulder. That and her rushed, uneven breathing told him how panicked she was, but every time he decided to tell her he was okay, to say something to calm her, that little hand would start working on another painful, bleeding section of the wound, gently rubbing in the medicine, and he wound up drowning in the wonderful relief it gave him and would forget to say anything at all.

Lily had spent a total of maybe fifteen seconds admiring his toned chest and abdomen, before the blood still seeping from the tear in his smooth, tanned skin captured her attention. But the main thought claiming her mind was that she wasn't a medic. She did her best to cover the entire gash with the salve, being as gentle as possible while applying it liberally, but somehow she wasn't sure it would be enough. At some point, Nico had quietly passed out – the pain had been returning at uneven intervals, and though the salve was taking the edge off of it and offering him some relief, it hadn't lasted very long. Somehow she was glad he was unconscious – it would save him from experiencing the agony that must have been dogging his every breath.

She finished applying the salve and screwed the jar shut, sighing and looking down at her hands. Her left hand was clean, the lightly tanned skin looking completely normal, but the right was a different story. A mixture of pink salve and blood covered it, making her feel sick as she looked at it. That was her boyfriend's blood. That was the blood of the man she loved. And she was covered in it!

Using her left hand, Lily sifted through the bag and pulled out the water bottle, rinsing her right hand off with it. Looking down at the still-unconscious Nico, she rubbed her eyes and sighed. The wound was covered in the shimmering pinkish salve but she had no idea whether to try to bandage it or not, and how. She really, _really _wished Jessie was there.

Feeling the tears pricking her eyes, she bent over and pressed her lips to Nico's, stroking his silky hair as she kissed his still lips.

"Ew! Lily, I did not need to see that!" Percy's voice rang out from behind her, and Lily pulled away from her boyfriend and turned around to see an Iris-message glimmering behind her. "Crap," Percy said suddenly as his eyes fell on the supine form behind his sister.

"Yeah," Lily said, brushing away the tears that wouldn't stop falling now that they'd started. "Crap."

"Hey," he said softly, "He'll be fine. He's a fighter. Can you move over? Let me get a better look at that." She obliged, and Percy spent the next couple minutes swearing creatively and fluently as he stared at Nico's wound.

Hearing Percy's reaction – he never swore much – scared Lily even more, if that were possible. It was starting to hit her that Nico may never open his eyes again. Stifling her sobs behind her hands, she sank to her knees beside his prone figure, giving in to the urge to cry.

"Lily," Percy said authoritatively, "Listen to me. You need to get Nico out of there, _now_. Whatever you've done will probably buy him some time, but not too much. He needs serious help, and you can't give it to him. The only problem is how…"

"No," a voice rasped.

Lily spun around, ignoring the discomfort in her denim-covered knees as they scraped against the rough ground, her jeans barely protecting them. "Nico!"

"Nico, shut the hell up and do what I say!" Percy shouted, upset that his best friend was ignoring him and making googly eyes at his little sister instead. "NICO!"

"He's right," Lily whispered, bending over Nico. "You're in no shape to stay here."

"We can't leave," he hissed, the corners of his eyes tightening as the pain returned. "What if something escapes again? We can't have random monsters escaping! And what if Typhon –" A coughing fit interrupted him, and Lily shrieked as he began to cough up blood.

"That's it, we're leaving." Lily was rising from her kneeling position when Nico's hand latched onto her wrist, pulling her back down with surprising strength, given his condition.

"No." When she began to protest again, he held up his hand. "Listen. I'm…in my element here. I'll heal fastest in…the Underworld."

"Then why aren't you?" Percy asked from the Iris-message. "When I'm in water I heal a lot faster than you are right now. What's the problem?"

Nico licked his dry lips and took a shuddering breath, obviously fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Here," Lily said softly, supporting his head and giving him a few sips of nectar before holding the water bottle to his lips instead. "I don't want to give you too much of that," she explained, stroking his hair as he gave her an _adorable_ pout when she pulled the nectar away from him.

"Can you two please, for the love of Hades, stop with the whole shooting-each-other-mushy-looks thing when I'm around? I feel sick."

"Shut up, Percy," Lily giggled.

"Percy?" Another voice filtered through the Iris-message, and Lily smiled. Annabeth. "Are you talking to someone?" Annabeth walked into the Iris-message. "Hi, Lily! Nico! Are you okay? What – oh, move over, Seaweed Brain."

"Annabeth, are you okay?" Lily asked, staring at the older girl. She had one bandage around her forehead, another around her upper arm, and she had been limping as she'd entered the message.

"It's nothing," Annabeth answered, slapping Percy playfully when he muttered something under his breath. "Nico…holy Zeus. What _are _you two waiting for? Get out of there already! Go back to camp, get Chiron and get some help!"

"No! Damn this all to hell and back," Nico shouted, losing his temper for the first time in…well, who cares, Lily decided, putting a soothing hand on his bare chest and easing him back, resting his head in her lap and ignoring Percy's discomfort.

"Shhh," she soothed, stroking his hair again. It just felt so nice! She could die in his hair. Wait…what?

"Why, though?" Percy pressed. "Come on, you can't expect to lie there and just –"

"We're too close to Tartarus for my dad's influence to help me as much," Nico said hoarsely, "But it's better than none. I just need time."

"What blade was it?" Annabeth asked, her analytical side taking over.

"It was his," Lily answered, rubbing his shoulders to relax him as she felt him tense. Moments later, he went limp, passing out again, probably with the strain of talking and dealing with the pain he was in. "Stygian iron."

"Those are dangerous," Percy said with a low whistle. "Listen, I think we need to move him. He's unconscious, right? I'll send Mrs. O'Leary down, with Tyson, I think, and you can –"

"No, Percy. Just stop talking. I am not going to send him back to camp when he said he doesn't want to!" Lily glared at her brother, clenching her hands into fists.

"He isn't thinking straight! He's medicated and seriously hurt, how are you taking him seriously? He's my best friend – I want him to get better!" Percy was shouting too now, and Annabeth had put an arm around his waist in an effort to calm him.

"Nico is not stupid," Lily snapped, threading her fingers into his silky hair and closing her eyes, breathing deeply and trying to regain her temper. "If he was practically shouting about wanting to stay here when he was in such a bad condition, that means he has a very good reason. And who knows, maybe he's right and he just needs a little time, and he'll be a lot better tomorrow."

"And maybe he won't!" Percy bellowed, his green eyes flashing. "What if he _dies_, Lily? What then? Are you going to look me in the eyes and tell me you did everything you could?"

Annabeth gasped and punched Percy hard in the chest. "You insensitive idiot!" she hissed, quietly enough that Lily couldn't hear, but the damage had been done.

"Lily, I didn't mean that," Percy said quietly, feeling the rage evaporate from him. "Crap, Lily, please, I didn't – no, don't –"

But he could only watch as her face crumpled, and he could only watch as she hid her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

"Lily, listen to me," Annabeth said, taking charge of the situation even as she took hold of Percy's hand. And squeezed as hard as she could. Allowing herself a little smile at his noises of pain, she continued, hoping he'd learned his lesson. "We'll give you till tomorrow, okay? You will both stay there, but even if something rumbles down there you will Iris-message me and I will send help down to you, because he is in no shape to fight and you will absolutely not leave him, even for a second. Just stay alert, watch him and make sure he's okay, and contact us tomorrow. We'll see how he is then, if he's better then you can stay, if not then we'll get him to camp. And if he gets worse at all, contact Jessie. If it's seriously bad, talk to us and we'll get you guys out of there and send a substitute in. Maybe Tyson – or Clarisse. We'll figure out our backup plan tonight. You just focus on him, okay?"

"But not more than necessary," Percy interjected. "The focusing, I mean. Ow!" He yelped as Annabeth whacked him in the head, and then dodged as she aimed for his shoulder. "Stop!"

"And Lily, it'll be okay. Don't worry too much. He's a Big Three kid too. It'll take a lot more than a little cut to take him down, okay?" Annabeth sent her boyfriend's sister a smile, wishing she could hug her through the Iris-message.

"Okay," Lily sniffled. She was so sick of crying. "Thanks, Annabeth." Looking at Percy, she sighed. "Percy, I –"

"I am sorry," he sighed. "Kiss him as much as you want, okay?"

She giggled. "I love you too, Percy."

"If you have some time, can you call Jessie?" Annabeth asked. "She was pretty worried – said you barely said anything at all."

"I will. Thanks, you guys. I'll talk to you soon."

As Percy ended the connection, Lily returned her attention to the boy whose head was in her lap and sighed. "Get better soon, Nico," she breathed, tracing soft patterns on his cheek with her fingers. "Please."

**A/N: Reviews? Pretty pleaseness? I just realized a lot of you probably have finals right now – I'm sorry for bugging everyone for reviews earlier. My school got out about two weeks ago, and I forgot that other schools go a bit longer. But if you could drop me even a line or two, I'd really really appreciate it! Thanks and good luck with everything! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jessie sighed, watching Leo as he slept. He deserved it, really. When the monsters had begun to fly up at them through the volcano, Jessie had loosed a volley of arrows, taken down half of them, and then panicked. A griffin had attacked her and she'd managed to kill it, but not before it had scratched her across the face, leaving a painful and bleeding gash along her left cheek.

Leo, it turned out, did not react well to his girlfriend getting hurt. Grinning at him, Jessie wrapped her hand around his and squeezed lightly, remembering him losing his temper and setting almost the entire volcano on fire. He had incinerated every monster heading towards them, caused an avalanche below them killing the rest, asked her if she was okay, kissed her, and promptly passed out. And was still passed out.

But she had other things to worry about. Leaning back against the rocky ledge they were perched on, she stretched out next to Leo, resting their intertwined hands on her stomach as she thought. The thing worrying her the most was Thalia – or, more importantly, her sudden and random hatred of Nico. If there was to be any sort of war coming up, they would have to be united, would have to fight as a team, and they couldn't have two of the most powerful demigods they had fighting with each other. It would spell disaster for everyone.

So the question was how to get them back together. She reached into the nearby backpack and pulled out a cookie, biting into it and tapping out the beat to a random song in her head on the back of Leo's hand. Maybe if she talked to Thalia, since Nico was currently comatose…but how to find the Huntress?

"This sucks," she muttered, tightening her grip on Leo's hand and glaring at a nearby rock as if it were the cause of her frustrations. She missed her guitar, which she'd somehow forgotten to bring. It was shameful, really. A child of Apollo forgetting her favorite instrument? Shameful.

"It does," Leo groaned from next to her. "Can you please stop squeezing so hard? I need my hand unbroken to do my son of Hephaestus stuff, you know?"

"Sorry," Jessie smiled, releasing him and sitting up. "Leo, how are you feeling? That was so amazing, by the way – but what were you thinking? You've been passed out for hours and hours! And you didn't even stay awake long enough for me to give you ambrosia or anything!"

He opened his mouth, but Jessie clapped her left hand over it as she grabbed the bottle of nectar from the bag, popping the lid and turning back towards him in record time. But she forgot all about the drink as he sat up and began to kiss her hand gently, beginning with the palm and moving on to her fingers and then the back of her hand.

Blushing, Jessie pulled her hand away, letting her fingers linger in his for an extra moment before slipping them out of his grasp. "Drink this," she said, proffering the bottle. "And not too much, okay? You'll burn up."

Leo grinned, taking the drink from her. "Fireproof, remember?" He took a few long gulps just to annoy her and then handed it back. "So, what's bugging you?" When Jessie stared at him blankly, he rolled his eyes. "Remember, you were whining about something sucking?"

"Oh," Jessie gasped. "Right." She filled him in on what she'd been thinking about, and he nodded.

"Idea," Leo announced. "Go back to camp. See if the Hunters are there. If not, Chiron can tell you, you can get a pegasus, go find them, and talk to Thalia." He grinned, obviously pleased with himself. "Brilliant, huh?"

"Not really," Jessie said pensively, laughing a little and pecking him on the cheek when his sparkling eyes gave her a disappointed look. "I am not leaving you here alone. So I can't go."

"Yeah, you can. I can take care of myself, and besides, we just got through an attack. There won't be another yet. So get going and hurry back."

"No – LEO!" Jessie shrieked as he tossed her bow and quiver at her.

"Put these on," he ordered, and, although she didn't really know why, she obeyed him. "Now come on." Taking her hand, Leo practically dragged her through the tunnels back to the mouth of the volcano, where he looked around blankly.

"What are we even doing out here?" Jessie snapped. "We should be watching that volcano! And there's nothing out here anyway, so –"

She stopped talking when Leo pulled out a yellow watergun. He pressed a button and the nozzle angled itself to catch the light and then began to spurt out a gentle rain of water, creating a shimmering rainbow. "Chiron, O Iris, please," Leo said, smiling when Jessie laughed. He could amuse her even when she was annoyed as hell at him. Go Leo!

Moments later Chiron appeared in the rainbow.

"Chiron! We need a pegasus to Mount St. Helens as soon as you can. Faster, if possible. It's important."

"Is anyone hurt? Are you alright?"

"We're fine, just send the horse down. And we don't need a replacement – I'll be here. Thanks, man." He ended the connection before Chiron could ask too many questions.

"Leo," Jessie whined, standing closer to him than necessary. He smelled strawberries in her vibrant red hair and sighed. Looking down at her, he narrowed his eyes.

"Standing this close to me is going to lead to a lot of things," he said in a deliberately husky whisper, his mouth brushing her ear as he spoke, "But me letting you stay is not one of them. At least I'm letting you come back, right?"

Jessie shivered, goosebumps rising along her neck. She was the only one, she reflected, who'd ever seen this side of Leo – the serious and sexy side. A little giggle rippled through her at the thought, but she kept her mouth neutral. It was probably the age, Jessie decided. As boys got older they tended to mature – well duh, she told herself – so he was probably growing out of the joking prankster he'd been. Well, not really. But he was embracing an older self as well, and as he began to kiss the spot right behind her ear, she decided she was perfectly okay with that.

When his cheek brushed hers, Jessie stepped away from him slightly. "Leo, you need to shave," she scolded. "I even packed a razor and shaving cream or whatever you guys use in everyone's bags! All you guys are getting older and your hormones are out of whack. You know, guys tend to have crazy testosterone levels when they're teenagers, which can lead to aggression and risky behaviors and a need to shave! So you really –"

"Jessie, stop," Leo laughed, his black eyes laughing with him in the way that never failed to captivate her. "I know your dad is the god of medicine and all that, but you don't need to lecture me about guy hormones and stuff. And I thought girls like guys with stubble. What happened to that?"

Jessie huffed. "Some guys look good with stubble, and some without. I personally like you without hair on your face, but I know Lily thinks Nico looks hot with or without it."

"She's dating him – she's going to think he looks hot regardless."

"Not true. I'm dating you but I think you look better without – Leo!" Jessie wound up squealing as he knocked her over backwards and then caught her so that she was leaning back at an impossible angle; she would've fallen over if he hadn't put his arm around her waist.

"I think you should think I look good at any time," he breathed, moving his mouth towards her.

"Pegasus!" Jessie pointed into the sky, and Leo looked up to see Porkpie land.

"Dang it," he muttered. "Fine. Come back fast, okay Jessie? I'll miss you."

"Miss you too," she said, smiling sweetly at him as she fisted a hand in his shirt and pulled him close for a searing kiss.

"You have beautiful eyes," Leo grinned. They really were, too. All midnight blue and everything. And coupled with that fiery hair…_damn_. "Maybe you should just stay."

"I'll be back soon," she giggled, trying and failing to pull his arm off her waist. "Leo, come on. I need to talk to her."

"I thought you didn't want to go."

"I don't, but you're right, I should. I'll be back soon, I promise." Mounting Porkpie, she bent down and gave Leo a parting kiss, grateful that he'd been growing like crazy ever since they'd met. She didn't have to bend too far down, and Porkpie was rather…large.

"Bye, Leo," Jessie whispered, finally pulling away from the kiss that had been becoming steadily more and more heated when Porkpie whinnied and turned his head away. "Love you."

Leo's mouth opened in shock when he heard her, but it turned into a smirk when she paled and then blushed furiously, staring determinedly at the ground. "I love you too," he shouted, even though she was barely a foot away. "Now hurry up and come back!"

"Let's go to camp, buddy," Jessie said, patting Porkpie's neck. "And fast, please." The winged horse broke into a gallop and took to the air, but just as Jessie began to wonder how on earth he'd reached her so fast, when her surroundings appeared to bend and they were sucked into a gaping black vortex that appeared before them.

The air compressed around her, her loose hair whipping her across the face and neck as she cursed its length. If she ever did this again, she would make sure her straight red hair, which reached a few inches below her shoulder blades, was tied back tightly. This hurt. The wind – or moving air, whatever – howled around her and she fought the urge to scream as the world spun around her as she and the pegasus moved at a terrifying speed.

But suddenly the world righted itself and the vortex they'd been in spat them out. Porkpie landed lightly atop Half-Blood Hill and flapped his wings a little, shaking out and stretching the muscles.

"Jessie!" Chiron trotted up the hill. "How are you? I taught Porkpie, Guido, and Blackjack that little trick. It's a centaur thing, really, we bend time to help us as we ride, and it turns out that pegasi can use it too, just with some sort of vortex instead. But I've heard that it can be a bit…unsettling to use. Percy, poor boy, threw up the first time he did it."

"I'm fine. Chiron, are the Hunters here? I need to talk to Thalia – it's urgent."

"Ah. Yes, they are. Cabin Eight, I believe."

Jessie smiled brightly at the centaur. "Thank you! So much! Got to run – bye!"

She practically flew down to the cabins and banged loudly on the door of the Artemis cabin, allowed herself a satisfied smile at the noise. Beautiful. Something a child of Apollo would really appreciate. Apollo loved to annoy his sister.

"Yes?" A Hunter opened the door and looked down at Jessie.

"You are tall," Jessie observed, staring up at the girl before throwing her a disarming, innocent smile. "I'm Jessie. Daughter of Apollo. Before you shoot me because Artemis hates my dad half the time, can you pretend that it's the other half when she likes him and let me in? Please? I really need to talk to Thalia."

"Who is it? Oh, Jessie." Thalia smiled. "Hi! One second. Olivia, you can move over, I'll just take a walk with her. The cabin's a bit crowded," she explained, stepping outside as the taller girl moved back in. "So, Jessie, what do you need?"

"Can we just walk a little first? Don't really want to be overheard."

"Sure," Thalia said, and Jessie was surprised by how pleasant the girl really was when Nico was out of the picture. "Um, Jessie, I hope you don't mind, but your hair is kind of really messed up. Do you want to tie it up? I have a rubber band you can use with me. I always keep some handy – my hair is short" – she patted her spiky dark hair – "but so many of my Hunters have long hair that I made it a habit."

"Please," Jessie laughed, running her fingers through her smooth hair and groaning when they snagged in several knots. "Porkpie killed my hair. Joy."

"Here." Thalia gave her a simple black rubber band, and Jessie twisted her hair up into a knot before using the band to hold it there.

"So," Jessie finally sighed, flopping down onto the ground underneath a conveniently placed tree, "I need to talk to you about something. Nico di Angelo, actually."

A frown appeared between Thalia's brows, but she motioned for Jessie to continue.

"It's just…it seems so silly to dislike each other when you're going to have to fight together if – wait, you do know about –"

"Yes, I know what's going on," Thalia interrupted. "And let me answer your question for you. Honestly, I don't trust Nico half as far as I can throw him. In every war there is _always _a spy, and even though we haven't heard about one yet, there will be one. And I think it's him."

Jessie scoffed.

"I'm serious," Thalia said. "Hear me out. First, he's a son of Hades. If there's one god we can't trust, that's him. Then he spends so much time away from the camp, hanging around the Underworld or talking to ghosts or Zeus knows who. We don't really know anything much about him, he barely has any friends here, and then all of a sudden he's dating Poseidon's daughter! It's a power play. He's doing it to improve his influence – he's already friends with Percy – and to increase the amount of information he's privy to. Between Lily and Percy he'll know everything the most important and powerful people at camp know, which is dangerous for us. And it's obvious he doesn't actually care for Lily! He was kissing Drew before he got together with her – yes, I heard about that, don't look so shocked – and he cheated on her afterwards. And cheaters don't just suddenly mend their ways. It's why boys are so untrustworthy."

"Wow," Jessie said finally, exhaling loudly. "Sounds like you had a lot to say." Shifting so that she was facing Thalia, she plucked a blade of grass and fiddled with it as she tried to figure out how to say what she wanted to without insulting the powerful demigod in front of her.

"You can say it," Thalia said, smiling.

"What?"

"You've had a thousand expressions on your face since I finished talking. Just say whatever you want to. I promise I won't spear you."

"I'm holding you to that," Jessie laughed. "Okay, first off, you say Hades is untrustworthy, but seriously, when your dad and the other two made that…what was it? The Pact of the Big Three or whatever it was, Hades was the only one of the three who actually kept his word!"

"Just because he keeps his promises doesn't mean you can trust him," Thalia pointed out. "There is a difference between the two."

"Yes it does," Jessie said stubbornly, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "And of course he doesn't spend much time here! With people breathing down his neck the whole time because they're terrified of what he _can _do to them, he won't want to spend any time here! And treating him the way you do, you're just making an enemy out of him. And you know, he's a pretty sweet guy once you get to know him, but make an enemy of him and he will tear you apart the first chance he gets. And then make sure you suffer in the afterlife."

"But we have to be careful around him," Thalia insisted. "We've never had a child of Hades at camp for a reason. They reek of death, Jessie, they carry it with them! You can't just accept –"

"They do not reek of death! Have you ever smelled Nico?" Jessie shouted. "Lily keeps going on and on about how good he smells all the time, like cinnamon or something she says. So how on earth –"

"Not literally," Thalia chuckled. "And calm down. You and your father lose your tempers over all the wrong things. My point is that he's too dangerous to be allowed to mingle. He's a wild card and needs to be kept under control."

"You're dangerous too! And so are Percy and Lily! How come none of you are supposed to be under lock and key? Because your daddies drew the right lots? Now you're just being unfair. And how come you were okay with Bianca, just not him?"

Suddenly looking older than her years, Thalia sighed, rubbing her face with the heel of her hand. "Bianca…was different. She was sweet, collected, very much in control of herself and the situation. She was wise beyond her years – mature where Nico has never managed to grow up. And we didn't know she was a daughter of Hades. I don't know how we would have seen or treated her, but she was a wonderful girl who didn't deserve to die so young." Her voice trembled a little and Jessie squeezed her hand for a moment.

"But she was a good person, right?" When Thalia nodded, Jessie sighed. "Can't you see that Nico's cut from the same cloth? Different corner, that's all. He's so much like how you made her sound, if you'd give him a chance. He's just difficult to connect with because he doesn't open up easily – Lily and Percy are probably the only ones besides his sister who've seen him completely unguarded. Maybe just Lily, I don't know. But Thalia, do you see what I'm trying to tell you? You don't want to sully Bianca's memory just because she was a daughter of Hades – you got to know her as a great person before you found out who her father was. So why can't you pretend Nico's a son of Apollo or something and give the guy a chance?" She laughed dryly. "He may even help save our lives one day. And we'll need him to fight with us, not sit on the sidelines or fight against us. So can you bury the hatchet?"

Thalia stared at the grass below her black combat boots, pushing her feet down onto it. "You make a good argument, I'll give you that," she said finally, running a hand through her short hair. "But…I don't know. I can try? I can be polite, but I can't trust him, not yet."

"Yes!" Jessie gave Thalia a quick hug, before bouncing back onto her heels.

Thalia laughed, amusement glinting in her stormy eyes as she surveyed the younger girl. "Are you always like this?"

"Mostly," Jessie beamed. "Ohmygods, I'm so happy!" She fell over backwards onto the grass and giggled to herself. "Wait. One more thing." She sat up, bits of grass sticking out of her red ponytail.

"Yes?" Thalia plucked the grass out of Jessie's hair and showed it to her before dropping it.

"Can you get everyone else at camp to quit hating him in the next few days while we're all gone? Pretty please?"

"Yes, cousin," Thalia said, grinning. "Yes, I think I can. Especially if you're right, and there's a storm coming."

**A/N: So…quickish update? And I know nothing much happened in this one, but I couldn't help it. The fluff just kinda happened. So if you could review pretty pleaseness for me I'll try to get another chapter out quickly. Thanks and see you soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hi everyone! So I apologize for the long wait, but I have had some serious, serious writer's block. But I just realized I haven't said this in a while, so it's time for a big thank you to all my reviewers! You are all beautiful, beautiful people! :D And also a shout-out to everyone who favorited/subscribed. Thanks for all the support everyone! *BROWNIES***

**So here's the next chapter, I hope you like it! It's all I could come up with, at any rate.**

Chapter 8

Lily woke up to the surprising realization that she had, without remembering lying down, fallen asleep. She sat up slowly, groaning to herself as the muscles in her back protested from lying on the rocky, hard ground for hours. Stretching, she yawned and reached for the bag, intending to find some water, when she remembered something else. Nico.

Whirling around, she found him stretched out on the ground, with that terrifying, bloody gash still stretching down his chest and abdomen. There were no traces of the medicine she had applied on his skin; in fact, the edges of the wound were tinged a faint black, and the congealed blood appeared all too fresh. He'd been bleeding while she'd slept like a little fool, Lily thought with shock, mentally berating herself but stopping when she realized it wouldn't help him.

Nico's chest was barely rising as he breathed, and he was unnaturally pale, his skin horrifying hot to the touch. Lily could hear his rattling, labored breaths, and fought the temptation to sink into panic mode. That wouldn't help him either.

"Okay," she muttered, looking around blindly. "I need to…" she trailed off as the air before her shimmered and suddenly a tall man - no, god – appeared before her. Examining the combat boots and cruel expression, her thoughts first flew to Ares, but when he removed his sunglasses, she frowned. Instead of the flames dancing in Ares's eyes, this god had red irises.

"Hey, girlie," he said, stepping towards her and smiling, without thawing the coldness in his eyes, when she scrambled to her feet and drew her sword.

"You're Enyalius," Lily said, cursing her voice for trembling.

"So you and that boyfriend of yours did figure it out," he mused, his red eyes glittering. "In that case, girlie, we need to talk."

"We'll talk later," Lily snapped, with as much courage as she could muster, leveling her sword to his chest. "I need to get him out of here _now_."

"Have you taken a good look at his chest?" he asked, stepping towards her again. Grabbing her blade with his bare hand, Enyalius wrenched it from her with practically no effort and tossed it several feet away. "Been wondering why it's turning black and not healing when the blade was his own, and he's in his own father's domain?"

She frowned, and he laughed. It was a cold, humorless, cruel sound, like the crash of two sharp blades colliding, and Lily shivered. But he had her attention, and he knew it.

"Why?" Lily asked finally, when he refused to elaborate.

"Let's just say it's a little gift from me to him," the god said, looking dispassionately down at the young man lying literally at death's door at his feet.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was shaking again. "Why are you killing him? What could you possibly achieve by –"

"If you want me to explain, you will stop shrieking like a little girl," he snarled, his eyes flaring with momentary, barely-suppressed rage. "And you know why I'm not letting him heal," he added.

"You aren't powerful enough," Lily said, remembering Nico's summary of the cruel god before her and ignoring the anger twisting his face. "You're only a minor god, there's no way you can counteract Hades's influence!"

"Shut up!" he roared, and suddenly she flew back several feet, crashing onto the ground and letting out a cry of pain as rocks tore through her shirt, lacerating her back. Evidently, she had touched a nerve.

Enyalius advanced on her, his fists clenched by his sides. "I may not be a _major_ god," he hissed, "but that does not mean I do not have power. And when I am not acting alone I can be POWERFUL!" he roared suddenly, making her jump.

"So I am going to offer you a deal," he said, calming himself with obvious difficulty. "You and pretty boy here will not mention anything of me. You will not tell anyone that you saw me, directly or indirectly, you will not mention my name, you will not indicate in any way that I am involved."

"And if I agree, what will you do?" Lily asked the question, even though she already knew the answer.

"I'll heal him," he said carelessly. "Or rather, I will remove my influence from the wound. If he recovers, he does. If he dies anyway, it will no longer be because of my halting his recovery. But," his eyes gleamed red again, "I want your word. On the River Styx."

Despairingly, Lily realized that she hadn't told Percy, Annabeth, or anyone else of what they'd seen – who they'd seen, rather – and if she agreed, she wouldn't be able to. But maybe Nico could! Hope brightening her eyes, she opened her mouth when he spoke again.

"And you will also swear that this spawn of Hades" – he kicked Nico in the ribs, ignoring her shriek of protest as blood trickled from the new wound – "will not open his mouth. That way, if he does say anything, _you _will be the one to suffer. And he won't risk that. You can tell him about it if he ever wakes up."

Lily glared. Up till now she'd been scared of Enyalius, but now something else struck her. She was the daughter of Poseidon, for Zeus's sake! She wasn't about to get bullied by some attendant of Ares. And that kick to Nico's ribs had been enough to spark her anger. Swiftly, she ducked around the god and scooped Nico's sword from the dirt, careful to avoid touching the black blade.

"Don't threaten me," she growled, narrowing her eyes at him. The ADHD was beginning to kick in, and along with the adrenaline, it made her feel ready for a fight. In fact, she was itching for one. Something prickled in the back of her mind, something Percy had said about Ares being able to goad people into a fight just by being around them, but she brushed it away. This wasn't Ares. She could take him. Or both of them, even. But that little niggling doubt wouldn't leave her alone.

"Or what?" Enyalius sneered at her, not even bothering to draw his sword. "You can't hurt me, girlie. Daughter of Barnacle Beard or no, you can't. So cut the bravado and swear on the Styx so I can leave."

"Such a hurry to leave?" Lily sneered back, perfectly imitating Nico's best sneer. Unfortunately, she had a feeling it looked much more intimidating on him than her. "Why, are you scared Hades will notice you manhandling his son?"

"I won't ask again," the god warned. "Swear it now."

Frowning, Lily stared at him. His eyes were flickering from side to side…something was bothering him. And whatever or whoever was bothering him was good for her. Maybe if she stalled for time…

Folding her arms, she was racking her brains for something snarky to say – where were Jessie and Leo when you needed them? – but something caught her eye. He had raised his hand to chest level and suddenly he clenched it into a tight fist.

"Too long," he said, chuckling sadistically as she stared at him, fear bubbling up inside her. What had he done?

A loud cry stabbed through the air a moment later, and Lily's head jerked around to face Nico. And when she saw him, she couldn't help it – she screamed.

He was writhing with pain, gasping for air, his lips parted in a soundless scream, his hands scrabbling at the ground beneath him, rocks scoring bleeding cuts on his back. But the wound on his front was what held her attention. It had opened even further, and the blood was streaming over his skin. The edges were now an ugly black color, and they were jagged.

"What did you do?" Lily screamed at Enyalius, half sobbing. "Stop it!"

"You know what you have to do," he said calmly.

Taking a deep gasping breath, she shouted, "I swear on the River Styx that I will not tell anyone in any way, shape, or form, directly or not, that I saw you here and that you are involved, and neither will Nico!"

"Good girl," Grinning insolently at her, Enyalius crossed his muscular arms.

"Heal him!" she yelled, furious.

"You didn't make me swear I would on the River Styx," Enyalius replied coolly. "Serves this punk right. His dad loves to make people make him swear, otherwise he does nothing. Now it's his turn to suffer. See you, girlie. He's got about half an hour left. Enjoy it. And the next time you try to meddle in things that don't concern you, remember this, and thank yourself." And he was gone.

"Nico," Lily whispered through her tears, turning to see him spread-eagled, unconscious, in a small but slowly growing pool of his own blood. She couldn't even bear to look at his wound now. It was too horrible, and she felt bile rising in her throat at the metallic scent of blood in the air.

"What do I do?" she wailed, dropping onto her knees. Nico was passed out, and he would probably never wake up again. She couldn't help him – and even if she could, she didn't know how to.

But something else cut through the guilt that was forming a dense cloud around her – a sudden, random drowsiness. Lily tried to fight it, but it was so overpowering that she collapsed on the ground seconds later, closing her eyes and giving in.

It quickly became clear to her that this was a dream – someone had wanted to talk to her. The darkness she was in shifted to a rose garden, and a woman, whose back was to Lily, was bending down and smelling a dark pink blossom.

"Um," Lily said eloquently, not sure what else to do. "Hi."

"Oh, you're here!" Aphrodite gave her a dazzling smile, brushing her hair away from her face. It was brown today, Lily noted, and the goddess's eyes were a light sky blue to complement the color. It must be nice to change your hair and eye color whenever you want, Lily thought, and then remembered Nico and was serious.

"I won't keep you long," the stunning woman promised. "I know you haven't much time. But listen. I've spent a good amount of time with Ares, and I know his power of aggravating wounds or preventing them from healing, which I believe that irritating servant of his has as well. And there is something that can overcome that, and I brought you here to tell you of it."

Aphrodite paused, and Lily burst out, "Well, tell me! I don't have time, you said it yourself! What is it? Where is it?"

"Patience," Aphrodite smiled, taking the girl's hand in her slender, long-fingered one. "It's a little plant. You have to eat crush the leaves and let the juice into the wound. It'll help. For the life of me," she said with a little laugh, "I don't remember the name. But it's rather small, a little flowering herb, you could say. The flowers are a sort of dusky orange, extremely pretty. And luckily for you, the wife of your boyfriend's father is very fond of flowers – especially pretty ones."

The goddess smiled again at the dawning comprehension and hope stealing over Lily's previously distraught face. "Yes, child. Persephone's garden has it – I saw it there once. It's near her roses, I think, she planted these little herbs to complement some of her darker magenta blossoms. And they do look magnificent together. Just be careful. She's very possessive of her gardens, and you know, spending so long with Hades…" She wrinkled her nose delicately. "Sometimes she acts before she thinks. Although she's a delightful lady, really, but –"

"So I go into her garden and find the little plant with orange flowers and squeeze the juice of the leaves into the wound, right?" Lily looked at Aphrodite for confirmation.

"Yes, and just be careful. She got Hades to keep some of his skeleton soldiers as guards for her gardens ever since she caught people – demigods, I think – trying to steal some of her more precious flowers – the ones made from gems. So be careful. Hades tends to give his guards permission to kill on sight unless they've been specifically told otherwise."

"Okay. Thank you so much!" Blinking her eyes to dissipate the moisture gathering in them, Lily smiled gratefully at the goddess.

"No problem. And don't worry too much about that promise you gave Enyalius. There will be a way."

"You know about it? Does anyone else?"

Aphrodite sighed. "Don't get your hopes up too much, sweetheart. I only know because I tend to keep an eye on couples I like, and I've been watching you and that wonderfully attractive young man ever since he was hurt. Oh, don't blush now," she laughed, "You two are so sweet. And that's why I'm helping you! But Hades may have noticed – after all, his son nearly died, and he was very fond of the boy's mother. Fonder than most gods are for their mistresses." She crinkled her brow momentarily. "Now hurry. You have barely twenty minutes left. Remember, keep a sharp lookout! And good luck."

The dream spun in a swirl of colors and the smell of roses, and Lily opened her eyes to find herself in the Underworld. Grabbing her sword from where Enyalius had thrown it as he'd torn it from her, Lily took a moment to memorize where she was before sprinting as fast as she could in the direction she hoped Persephone's gardens were.

Twenty minutes had never seemed such a tiny amount of time.

**A/N: Reviews, anyone? I could use the motivation at the moment. **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So, here it is…what I think is the longest chapter I have ever written. It rambles and whatever but I hope you all like it! And a huuuuge thank you to those who reviewed last chapter – this one was written, and made longer, especially for you all. Thank you :D**

Chapter 9

Her lungs were burning as she neared the palace, and took the quick turn that she vaguely remembered to lead to Persephone's gardens. Her boots raised little clouds of dust that swirled around her feet as she ran, not daring to wonder how long it had taken her. Just as she was about to round the corner her ADHD-riddled brain picked up on a sound approaching her from the front, and she scrambled towards a bush to her left.

Unfortunately, the movement wasn't the fluid, coordinated leap for safety that Nico would have made it, it was an undignified lunge towards the ground behind the foliage. Lily couldn't help the soft cry of pain that escaped her as she miscalculated the distance and hit the ground hard, tearing her jeans and skinning her left knee as she fell.

"Ow," she whispered, huddling on the ground and peeping out around the bush. A wicked-looking skeleton holding some sort of huge gun that she couldn't name appeared in her field of vision moments later, and she cowered back into the meager shadows the bush provided, hoping it couldn't hear her heart beating. If Nico had been here she wouldn't have been half as scared, but he was…

No, she couldn't think of that now. Gritting her teeth and wincing as her knee protested with a sharp flare of pain, Lily got to her feet and crept after the guard, not bothering to draw her sword. It would be no use against that gun. Hades evidently knew what he was doing, for the most part anyway.

Limping slightly, Lily kept her eyes wide open as she stole through the gardens, breathing as lightly as she could. Ducking close to the ground, she scurried behind another guard, holding her breath as he turned, suspiciously eyeing the ground before turning back around. Thanking every god that would listen that her boots left little to no traces on the ground, Lily stood up in a half-crouch, wondering which way to go.

She'd seen the most beautiful plants, even some made of diamonds and rubies and emeralds and other sparkling gems she hadn't recognized, but nowhere had she found the roses, especially the magenta ones that Aphrodite had said sheltered the herb she was searching for.

The heady smells from all the blossoms was seriously inhibiting her ability to think, clouding her mind and stifling her senses. So much so that several times she had nearly walked straight into a guard, although they'd always had their heads turned whenever she went by…But there was no time to worry about that.

Closing her eyes, she took a moment to try and clear her head before setting off again. At first she couldn't concentrate, but conjuring an image of a roguishly smiling Nico in her head did the trick. Lily took another path to her left, dashing between hedges and rows of flowers, her heart thumping in her chest as she turned another corner.

Something moved in the corner of her eye as she ran, and Lily turned and stopped in amazement. A little brown and white bird – a nightingale – fluttered onto a branch of a pomegranate tree and perched there, eyeing her curiously. It chirped quietly, and then loosed a few notes of a sweet song, making her smile as it cocked its small head at her.

It took to its wings again, makes a small whooshing sound as it soared over her head. Without really thinking, Lily followed its flight down various tiny paths, some so small that branches and hedges left small red cuts on her skin.

When she emerged from a particularly problematic bush which had trapped her, Lily gave a small moan of relief. Before her was a large clump of dark magenta roses, and below the heavy blossoms and their leaves peeked the dusky orange blossoms Aphrodite had described. Dropping to her knees, ignoring the pain in the left one as it came into hard contact with the ground, Lily ripped several leaves off of one of the herbs and stood up.

"A nightingale," she mused, watching the nondescript little bird watching her curiously. And then she remembered something she'd once read – while Persephone wasn't exactly associated with any animals, since flowers were more her thing, she was generally said to be the patron goddess of bats and nightingales. Was the goddess trying to help her?

The bird gave her an annoyed sound whistle and took to the air again, and Lily gave a little shriek when she realized that she'd been wasting time. She clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified, but it was too late. The bird gave a mournful cry and flew up to hide in the leaves of another conveniently placed pomegranate tree, disappearing from her view.

Her heart in her mouth, Lily drew her sword and spun on her heel in a quick circle, looking for somewhere to hide – or run. Recognizing the way she had come, Lily dashed towards the brambles she had torn through earlier, only to stifle a scream when one of the skeleton guards appeared less than a foot away from her. Thankfully, though, this one held a sword, not a gun.

Her loose hair swirled around her as she ran for another pathway, her left hand holding tightly to the leaves while her right gripped her weapon. But three guards appeared from that direction, and, panting, Lily whirled to face the last path – her last hope of escape. But from there, too, three guards were rapidly approaching. She was trapped.

Trapped, maybe, but not going down without one hell of a fight, she told herself. Nico's life was on the line, and she would do whatever it took to save it. Her pupils dilated and her eyes widened as she took a quick glance at the guards approaching her leisurely. They all held swords. No time to wonder or care where the ones with the guns were. This was a godsend.

Lily was taking deep, calming breaths, trying to focus before taking the offensive. She remembered Nico doing this before every battle, every fight – even arguments, sometimes. He would kind of cocoon himself inside his own body, settling himself, breathing deeply and staying incredibly still. And then, when he came out of that cocoon, he would be fighting mad – lethal. She decided to try his tactic, because that was what she needed. To be lethal.

She half-closed her eyes, feeling her heartbeat slow slightly as the cool Underworld air filled her lungs. The adrenaline coursing through her seemed to have slowed its movement through her veins, and she could feel a certain clarity stealing over her mind, even as her senses sharpened. She knew which way to go – the way she came, of course. And there were three guards in her way. The others she wouldn't worry about unless she absolutely had to.

Lunging forward, she knocked aside two blades and stabbed the last one with her own. But it just cocked its head, the skull grinning at her as she stared, in shock. She had stabbed it. And it hadn't died, disintegrated, or even reacted. Crap.

But there was barely any time to think after that. A soft whoosh behind her told her that she was surrounded – and sure enough, she was. Lily went straight into combat mode, ducking and slashing, trying to disarm her opponents. Unfortunately, they seemed to be excellent fighters.

Hissing, Lily continued to parry their thrusts, panicking inwardly. She was wasting time! There would be no chance for Nico at all if she didn't get to him soon. Suddenly an idea struck her, and she let her body function on autopilot as she thought. Nico had taught her those useful little force field tricks so long ago that she'd nearly forgotten how to use them…but maybe she could still do it.

Focusing, she tried to channel her energy, power, whatever it was, through her hand to blast at the guards, but nothing happened. Frowning, she blocked a few blows and tried again, but still nothing. And that frustration, combined with her fear at being delayed in the garden while Nico was dying, pushed her over the edge as a sharp tug began to develop in her gut.

Water, sweet seawater, exploded from nowhere, dousing her, the plants, and the guards all in one go. For a moment she just gaped, and then her instincts came back into control. Lily willed the water to move away from the plants and sweep the guards away from her, but didn't wait to watch them go.

Making sure the precious leaves were still encased tightly in her hand, Lily sprinted towards the path she'd taken to arrive at the roses. As she fought through the irritating bush that had barred her way before, the nightingale swooped down in front of her, calling out to her as if telling her to follow it.

And she did, letting it guide her down paths she hadn't taken before, not paying too much attention to anything except ensuring that the leaves didn't fall from her clutches and that she wasn't slowing down even a fraction. Lily barely registered the fact that they had left the gardens, and continued to run as fast as her legs would carry her until the bird disappeared. But she felt lost for only a moment before she recognized the surrounding area and began to run again, ignoring the intensely painful stitch searing in her chest.

Moments later she rounded the corner and saw Nico's prone form stretched out before her, lying in a pool of his dark red blood that had gotten larger than it had been when she'd left. She began to crush the ridged dark green leaves in her hands even before she reached him. Dragging him slightly to the side so that she wouldn't have to kneel in the red liquid pooling around him, Lily tried to ignore how pale he was, or how his skin was burning hot. At least he was still alive – even if he was fevered and unconscious. Alive was good.

Letting the juice from the leaves drip into the wound without actually looking at it proved to be quite a challenge, and eventually Lily realized that she would have to look if she wanted to get the liquid to fall into the cut.

Steeling herself, she let her eyes drift to the horribly long, jagged, bloody gash and tried to stifle her whimper. It was beyond awful – even worse than it had been previously, black and festering and obviously extremely painful. How he had held on this long was a mystery to her.

She carefully dripped the green liquid, which streamed plentifully from the surprisingly small leaves, into the wound. Eventually the leaves, now dried up, shriveled in her palms, and she dropped them, wiping her hands on her jeans.

Nothing seemed to have changed, though. The air hung heavy with the smell of blood, which had pooled on the ground next to them, and he was still unconscious and feverish. Lily smoothed his hair back from his sweaty forehead, stroking it, loving the way the silky strands slipped lightly over her fingers. It almost felt like she had dipped her hand into some cool water.

A soft hissing drew her attention, and Lily gasped when she found the source. A thin layer of steam was rising from the gash, and the hissing noise was coming from Nico's body. She was suddenly aware that he was trembling under her hand, and soon he was shaking, his mouth open and his head lolling from side to side. Lily tried to quell the feeling, but had to admit she was terrified. Was he dying or healing? It was impossible for her to tell. Maybe she had been too late, and she had arrived only in time to witness his death.

But she refused to cry, just in case he opened his eyes again. Nico had always hated to see her cry, even though he always did his best to soothe her. And if he looked at her for the last time now, she wanted to do everything she could to make his last moments easy, if not happy. And crying would not help.

Clutching his hands tightly in her own, Lily waited, scarcely daring to breathe or hope, as Nico gradually grew still before her. Gathering her courage, Lily trailed her eyes from his own closed ones, down his straight nose, beckoning lips, and narrow chin, his throat, collarbone, muscled chest, until her gaze hit his wound. And she couldn't help the squeal that escaped her as all her worry left her in a wonderful whoosh.

"Thank you, Aphrodite, thank you!" she whispered excitedly. The wound seemed to have drawn together just a tiny amount, but the most striking difference was that it was no longer black, no longer festering. Which meant he was healing.

"Yesss!" Lily squealed again, jumping up and dancing around a little. But then she looked back at Nico and her face fell as she realized that he still hadn't awoken.

"Nico," she breathed, dropping to her knees beside him. Then another thought sank into her brain and she sat down heavily. Just because the herbs had counteracted Enyalius's interference didn't mean that they had healed Nico completely – he had still been left more or less to his own devices.

Lily gave herself a few minutes to wallow in her sadness and worry and pain, and then mentally slapped herself. She had to do _something_. But what? She huffed, stretching out her left leg slowly, easing the skinned knee into the new position. Couldn't Aphrodite have been a little more helpful? But no. She acts like she doesn't need to do any more than the bare minimum and then spouts a bunch of rubbish about caring.

Rubbing her forehead, Lily flopped backwards so that she was stretched out beside Nico. Somehow Aphrodite had seemed so sincere, as if all she had to do was get the damn plant and Nico would be right as rain. But then why wasn't he awake?

There was that nagging feeling that she had missed something very painfully and glaringly obvious, but for the life of her Lily couldn't figure it out. Lying on the ground, with small but sharp rocks digging into her back and vaguely registering the dull pain they were causing her, especially where her shirt had torn when Enyalius had thrown her back, Lily turned her head and watched Nico.

The perspiration was still there on his forehead and body, making his bare skin shine, but there was a definite rise and fall of his chest that calmed her slightly, and she could see the pulse beating in his neck. Her eyes caressed his body, doing what she wasn't brave enough to do – the wound and blood still terrified her. His olive skin was so smooth, unbroken save for a few bruises and, of course, that awful gash – suddenly she sat bolt upright. While her eyes had roamed his body, something had struck her. She needed a closer look.

Crouching awkwardly next to him so that her bleeding knee wouldn't be pushed into the ground, Lily examined his left side closely, but found nothing. Sighing disappointedly, she sat back on the ground and gasped. There it was! A small area of his skin shimmered pink as her angle to it changed.

For a moment she just sat there, too confused to react, and then it hit her. Jessie's salve. Pink. Smelled like roses.

Wounded knee forgotten, Lily scrambled around Nico and the blood next to him and snagged the backpack up from the ground, rushing back to him. Fingers shaking, she unscrewed the lid of the jar that contained the salve and sighed with relief. About half the salve was still left, and the smell of the roses emitting from it calmed her slightly. It was like a reassuring hug from her best friend, a little promise that things would get better. And since she was down in the Underworld, alone with her half-dead boyfriend who could still die, her imagination easily made that connection.

Of course Aphrodite hadn't told her about anything except the leaves, Lily realized. She'd had the means to heal him so close by, she'd just been too worried – or too stupid – to see it. But now she knew what to do, and she felt the feeling of helplessness replaced by a new purpose.

Her fear of looking at his wound – let alone touching it – seemed to have vanished as she dipped her fingers into the pale pink concoction and began working it gently into the cut, just as she had not so long ago. She didn't know how long she worked, but soon the entire wound was coated with a shimmering pink layer, the smell of roses contrasting sharply with the sharp scent of blood. There was still a little more salve left in the container, in case he needed another coat.

Now there was nothing to do but wait, and hope. But she wasn't the most patient girl in the world, and Lily was positive she wouldn't last much longer if he just lay there, his mouth still slightly open, his body streaked red with his own blood, refusing to respond to her.

Ten minutes later – she'd found Nico's watch in a zippered pocket of the backpack – Lily started to feel like she was slowly going insane. She could feel the pulse throbbing in her neck, her wrists, even her fingertips, her knee was burning but she refused to pay it any attention, and the greatest strain on her was Nico's unmoving form.

And the mixing smells of blood and roses were making her feel sick.

Ten minutes after that she was up and pacing back and forth, chewing on her lower lip for the sake of something to do. Another ten minutes later, she was wearing his watch on her wrist, marveling at how large it was on her even though it was on the tightest it would go. Ten minutes after that she was slashing her sword through the air, hacking at invisible enemies as she tried to distract herself.

Finally, Lily collapsed on the ground, exhausted, and decided that if Nico didn't open his eyes in five minutes, she was Iris-messaging Chiron and telling him to arrange a way for her to get Nico to camp. And when those five minutes passed and he didn't move, she rummaged through the bag until she found the modified watergun Leo had given them all.

She had just pressed the button to create a mist of water that angled itself to create a rainbow when something moved behind her, and she froze.

"Need some company?"

That voice…

Nico had raised his head and was grinning and her, and as she stared uncomprehendingly at him he propped himself up on his elbows. Of all things, the sight of the muscles in his arms working as he made that simple movement jerked her out of her shock.

"Nico!" Lily flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck but hugging him from the side so she wouldn't touch his wound. "Finally! How do you feel?"

"I'm okay," he mumbled, raising his dark eyes to meet her wide, worried sea green ones.

"Just okay? Does it hurt a lot? Is there anything you need?"

"Yeah, you could do something for me," he said. Lily searched his face but there was no trace of a smile, so she decided he was in pain. She was reaching for the bag when he decided to clarify. "I think a kiss would make me feel a lot better right now."

"You idiot," Lily laughed shakily, moving a little closer to him and laying her hand on his forehead. It was warm, not burning hot as it had been earlier. Somehow she felt like she should be taking better care of him, and that kissing him did not fall under that particular umbrella, but it was so tempting. Even more so because she hadn't for so long.

So Lily scooted closer, sitting behind him so he could lean back onto her, and lowered her head. Keeping her lips tightly closed – she refused to let things get out of hand, he was in no shape for that – she pressed them softly to his, holding them there for a moment before straightening again.

"That's it?" Nico looked up at her in disbelief as she stretched forward, hooking the straps of the backpack onto her fingertips and sliding it towards her.

"Yes," she said absently, pulling a plastic bag filled with ambrosia squares out and unzipping it. "Here, eat this. And now, seriously, how do you feel?"

"Disappointed," he muttered, chewing the ambrosia she gave him. "Ahh, this tastes so good. Wish I was a god."

"Nico," she said, her tone warning him she wasn't playing his game.

"Fine, fine." Nico slid down, so that he was again stretching out with his head in her lap. "I feel like crap, but at least pain means I'm alive, right?" He twisted slightly, wincing as pain flared in his abdomen, and immediately regretted saying what he had when he saw her eyes swimming with tears. "Oh, come on, I almost died, of course I'm in pain. But I'm a lot better than before, thanks to…" He trailed off and frowned. "What did you do?"

"Aphrodite helped," Lily said, trying to keep her voice steady. "And there's something else which I'll tell you later."

"What? Tell me now."

"No," she insisted, handing him the bottle of water. "Shut up and drink."

Taking the water from her, Nico held it in his other hand and glared at her. "I'm not having anything you give me from now on out until you tell me everything."

"Nico, it's not that important." Lily felt his eyes boring into her as she lied, meeting his gaze and hoping he wouldn't read her shame there.

"Yeah, it is, or you would've already told me. So spit it out." He chuckled a little. "How bad can it be?"

Lily drew a breath. "It's bad." And she explained everything – the deal with Enyalius, why she'd made it, and then the dream from Aphrodite.

Nico stared at her when she finished, opened his mouth, and croaked something out. Unscrewing the bottle, he took a long gulp of water before easing himself into a sitting position.

"Careful," she whispered, helping him sit up and putting the backpack behind him so he could lean on it. He evidently wanted to be facing her, not lying against her.

"Why did you agree?" he snapped suddenly, glaring at her. "You shouldn't have! We're the only two who know, and now we can't tell anyone!"

"Aphrodite knows," Lily ventured, looking at him worriedly. His dark eyes were flashing with rage, the muscles in his arms, chest, and abdomen standing out, taut against his olive skin. He was mad.

"Aphrodite is no help! She spends more time looking in the mirror than anything, and no one believes anything she says unless someone like Zeus is backing her up. And most likely Ares will disagree with her because it's his servant she's implicating, and then the gods will start arguing with each other and end up getting nowhere, as usual! And you didn't answer the question!"

"Fine, I did it because I didn't freaking want you to die! Is that so hard, dimwit?" Lily shouted, losing her temper with him. She went through so much to keep him alive, swore things she never would have, got her knee skinned and her back lacerated by rocks, nearly got killed by Hades's guards, and he was yelling at her. His problem.

"You should've let me die," he snarled, his voice a few octaves lower than usual – and it was deep to begin with anyway. "You've just endangered everyone's lives, and gotten what in return? It was a stupid deal and you know it."

"Well, fine then!" Lily shrieked, angry tears escaping her eyes. "You have a sword, why don't you finish the job? And then come back as a ghost and spread the word?" She scoffed at the ground, glaring at her crossed legs. "I'm stupid, right, because I care about you? Because I don't want you to die? I'm selfish, huh?" She stood up. "Fine. Stay here, by yourself, where you don't have to see my stupid self."

She was stomping past him when his fingers wrapped around her ankle loosely and she stopped. "What?" she snapped. She couldn't even remember if she'd ever been this mad at him.

"Your knee," Nico frowned. "What happened?"

"Skinned it," she said. "Now let go of my damn ankle!"

"Sit," he said. When she refused to, he sighed. "Please. _Please_."

She sat.

"Listen," Nico said, "I…didn't mean to yell at you. I'm sorry, really. But you have to get that, well, I don't really see how we'll get out of this one. But I am sorry. Forgive me?"

Lily huffed and looked away, and Nico put his arm around her waist, smirking as he pulled her closer. She wriggled and struggled halfheartedly, but she was too slender to be any sort of match for him.

"That was mean," she said after he'd held her close for a few minutes. "Really mean." Her voice shook, and Nico realized she was still crying.

"Hey," he said softly, turning her face towards him and wiping her eyes. "I'm an idiot, I know. Here, you can slap me if you want. Make you feel better."

She gave a shaky laugh. "You're in no condition to be slapped. But how about this?"

Reaching up to pull his head down, Lily let his lips find hers. For a moment, barely a heartbeat, it was a soft and chaste kiss, an apology. Then it changed. Nico bit down on her lower lip, and when she gasped, he took the chance to explore her mouth with his tongue, letting his dance with hers, telling her how glad he was he was back, even though he'd told her she should've let him die.

Lily was kissing him back with everything she had, but he had total control and they both knew it. Even though he was the injured one, Nico was bending her slightly backwards, tilting her head up as he kissed her.

Suddenly he pulled away and drew his hand away from her back. "What the _hell _happened to you?" His eyes searched hers as he held out his hand. There was blood on it. "Why is your shirt ripped up in the back?"

"Enyalius doesn't like smartasses," Lily muttered finally.

Nico sighed. "Pass me that salve you used, will you?" Lily gave it to him, and he opened it. "Now turn around."

Her eyes widened. "No, Nico! We need that for you. If I didn't put enough we can always add more – but not if you waste that on me. I'll be fine, it's nothing major."

"Like hell," he scoffed. "Turn around."

After some more vain protests she turned, and seconds later was moaning with relief as Nico massaged the palm into the cuts in her back. He was surprisingly quick about it, though, and rubbed some into her knee before putting it away.

Lily stared at him, wondering what was bothering him, when she noticed something. He was keeping his face carefully turned from her, and his neck was red. She gave a little giggle. The boy was blushing, and she found that irresistible.

"Come here," she laughed, pulling him close again, and within seconds his mouth met hers. Lily could feel lightheadedness coming over her as he gave her only a few seconds to breathe after long, intense kisses, but he gave her a chance to get some air when she felt ready to pass out. Lily rested her head on his bare, muscled shoulder as he stroked her waist, giggling as he occasionally slipped his hand under her shirt and tickled her side lightly.

"I missed you," she breathed, and felt his grip around her tighten. A flesh and blood cage that she never wanted to leave. But she knew she would have to – they would have to leave this moment together behind and face the world again. And they needed to find a way around that stupid deal. But for the moment…they were together.

**A/N: Reviews, anyone? Last chapter was a little disappointing…maybe we can make it up now? More reviews mean a faster update from me! And thank you all for reading. xD**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So…I must say, THANK YOU for all those lovely, lovely reviews for the last chapter. We're almost at 300! I am sooo excited! And I have to thank all of you for it. You are beautiful people. Here's the next chapter, it's not much but I hope you like it!**

Chapter 10

Isabelle stared at Connor, tapping her foot. He stared at the ground, trying to ignore her tapping foot. It wasn't working too well.

"Come on, Isabelle," he said finally, rolling his eyes at her. "It's not as it I took much, just –"

"Son of Hermes you may be, but you can't run around 'borrowing' people's motorcycles whenever you want to!" Isabelle advanced on him, smirking when she noticed a flash of fear in his eyes. Oh yes, even if he was a good deal taller than her, she could be damn scary when she wanted to.

"But it'll be helpful for us! You should be thanking me!"

Ignoring his protests, Isabelle fisted his collar in her hand and pulled him slightly towards her. "Why would we need it? We can take a taxi to get us close to camp if we need to, and we can walk a little to actually get there. Why on earth would we ever, ever need _that_?"

They both looked at it, a silver BMW motorcycle sitting innocently near them, the keys hanging off one handle.

"Put it back where you found it, okay Connor? The last thing we need is a bunch of cops looking for us."

"They won't find it, and damn it, can't you see you can barely walk?" Connor pointed to her leg, which was still in its cast. "We need to get you back to camp so Chiron can fix this – we can come back later if we have to, but honestly this stakeout deal is stupid. We're all injured, Nico's practically dying down there, and no one is going to get the help they need if we don't go back!"

Isabelle frowned. "Nico's dying? I thought Jessie said he's fine, just a bit banged up."

"She was trying not to worry you while you were so badly hurt," Connor sighed. "But it's hard to fool a son of Hermes – especially with such a stupid lie. You could see it in her face. He's hurt, badly enough that she's worried."

Wincing a little as she moved her leg, the pain returning now that her irritation was subsiding, Isabelle finally let Connor lift her and sit her down on a large rock that doubled as a roughly made chair.

"I'm going to IM Chiron," Connor told her, his obstinate expression telling her not to argue. "I'm telling him we're coming back, and everyone else too, if they have any sense."

"Fine," Isabelle said, trying not to groan as her leg spasmed with pain. Connor shot her a concerned glance an proceeded to send Chiron a message, informing him they were returning and ending the connection before the centaur could protest.

Two minutes later another Iris-message shimmered in the rainbow, this one showing Annabeth's tired face, a bandage wrapped tightly around her forehead. It took Connor ten minutes to finally convince her, but she agreed to return to camp and promised she would do whatever she had to – including threatening to unleash Percy's wrath – onto anyone who refused to comply. Probably just Nico.

"So now what?" Isabelle said crabbily, glaring at her stupid broken leg.

"Now we leave," Connor answered. "Give me a minute to pack the tent and whatever else and we'll get out of here. It's not as if anything much happened anyway – other than us almost dying."

To his credit, although Isabelle wasn't paying much attention half the time, Connor took about five minutes to stuff everything haphazardly into the backpack, tearing the tent and breaking a few of the poles in the process – but really, how much did it matter when you could "borrow" another in minutes? – and had seated Isabelle carefully behind him on the motorcycle.

"Do you even know how to drive this thing?" Isabelle asked, staring at the back of his head.

"Nope," he replied cheerfully, fiddling with the keys. "Does it matter?"

"Up," Isabelle ordered, prodding him with her finger. "Get up. I'll drive."

"No way, not with that leg." He stared at her, refusing to move.

"Fine, but at least listen for the next few minutes, okay?" And Isabelle proceeded to give him a crash course in motorcycle driving – which didn't take too long. After making sure he knew how to start it, Connor turned the key and drove off, leaving her to wrap her arms around his waist and hope his demigod reflexes would be enough to keep them both alive by the end of the ride.

The ride itself, Isabelle discovered, involved her holding on tight, squeezing her eyes shut, and not daring to even wonder what speed they were going at. Neither wore a helmet and she had been drawing up a will inside her head when they pulled to a stop.

"Think I can make it up the hill on this thing?" Connor asked her, looking up at the pine tree atop Half-Blood Hill.

"Make it fast," she mumbled, making a mental note to slap him for speeding later.

They rode to the top of the hill but Connor jerked to a stop, and Isabelle cried out as her leg flared with agony, the world going dark around her.

A few hours later, the Big House was the scene of a huge commotion, the likes of which Chiron hadn't seen in years. Nico di Angelo was on the couch, being held down forcefully by Lily and Jessie. He was shouting at them that he as perfectly fine, goddamn it, and there was no need to keep babying him, and Lily was screaming back that he was not going to move until Jessie said he was fit to. Jessie was trying to keep from laughing as she and her best friend wrestled the son of Hades, who was surprisingly strong even in his weakened state.

Whenever Chiron tried to intervene, all three teenagers turned and yelled at him – Nico because he was angry that Chiron thought he needed to rest, and the girls because they couldn't afford any distractions while Nico was still fighting to get up.

On the opposite couch, Percy and Annabeth were having the same argument, with Annabeth insisting she was okay and her boyfriend arguing otherwise. Isabelle and Connor had left after Chiron had healed her leg as much as he was able – something about figuring out what to do with the motorcycle. Jessie had sniggered and muttered something about kissing behind every cabin they could find.

"Everybody just SHUT UP!" Lily screamed finally, after Jessie rent the air with an ear-splitting shriek as an errant foot nearly crushed her medical supplies. "You" – she pointed threateningly at Nico – "and you" – she pointed at Annabeth – "will not move until Jessie tells you you can. Understood? And if you do I promise I will knock you out for the remainder of the week."

Nico stared at her. He'd seen Percy lose his cool before – although he knew he was a _lot _scary than Poseidon's son – but Lily was a bit more terrifying, especially with her eyes flashing and her loose, wavy hair all messed up, and her sword pointed straight at him.

"Fine," Nico growled, suppressing a smirk as something else flashed in those aquamarine eyes at the sound of his voice, lowered by an octave.

After a moment's hesitation, Lily gave him what had to be the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, with her eyes lighting up and her cheeks flushing and – Nico shook his head, trying to stop himself. He sounded like a lovestruck child of Aphrodite!

Lily was watching him frown at himself, wondering what was going on in his head, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Lily, come with me for a second. We need to talk." Jessie turned and headed for the hallway, and after a minute Lily followed her.

"Nico shadow-traveled you both here after Percy IM-ed you guys and shouted his head off for a while, right?"

"Yeah, he did," Lily said, not exactly seeing where the conversation was headed.

Jessie spotted the confusion on her friend's face. "The thing is…he really shouldn't have. He was in absolutely no shape to. That boyfriend of yours is an insanely good actor – from what I gathered in the ten seconds he allowed me to check him before throwing a fit, he's in a _lot_ of pain. On the surface it looks the same, but I'm ninety-seven percent sure there's bleeding inside. The salve held him together on the outside, but it's torn up a bit within. I could kinda sense it, if that makes any sense."

"Yeah," Lily said, turning pale. "But what can we do?"

Jessie laughed, patting her friend on the head teasingly. "What do we do? He's a freaking son of Hades. Some stupid little cut isn't going to take him down. We stuff him with nectar or ambrosia, yell at him every five minutes because he hates being an invalid, and medicate him. Speaking of which, I need your help with that."

"You need _my _help with healing Nico? I'm completely useless with that kind of stuff – and you're Apollo's daughter, for the love of Hades. Why –"

Jessie shushed her. "Unless you want me running my hands all over your hot boyfriend's muscled body while I rub medicine into his wound, you're going to do it for him. And you did just fine from what I could tell."

Lily pretended to glare at Jessie for a few seconds, and then they both burst out laughing. "I'll do it, just give me whatever I need to give him. And thank you."

"No problem," Jessie said absently, looking around with a furrowed brow. "Oh! So the salve is my recently updated version of what I gave you guys earlier – it's in the little pink drawstring bag on the table. Just rub it in, and then push it in some more – that cut is still pretty deep and wide. It'll heal with time, but make sure it goes as far in as it can. We need to heal him from the inside out."

"Got it," Lily said, turning to look back into the room. "So shall we go back, then?"

"You go," Jessie said, her eyes flitting around as if searching for something. "I need to look for someone."

"Okay," Lily said, going back into the room. She snagged the little pink bag – why was everything pink with Jessie? – off the table and headed to Nico's couch. He was asleep, but his brow was furrowed and his mouth was moving like he was trying to speak.

"Nico," she whispered, prodding him lightly. "Nico, wake up. Wake up!"

"Ahh! What? I'm armed!" Nico pulled a knife out of practically nowhere, making Lily leap backwards and fall off the couch as he brandished it at her.

"It's me, you dolt," she laughed, picking herself up off the floor and sitting next to him again. The smile faded as she looked at him. "What were you dreaming about? You looked worried."

He gave her a serious look. "I'm not going to tell you. Not yet, anyway. I need to talk to someone else first – and we need to be alone – and then I'll tell you. Not here, in front of everyone."

"Is it that bad?"

Nico exhaled, muscles fluttering in his abdomen. "Yeah. It's bad."

Lily stared at him, eyeing the wound. Somehow every time things were looking up, something just had to happen to ruin everything. When would life leave them alone? "Fine. Tell me later. But right now you are going to stay still while I heal you some, okay?"

"Yes, mother," he mocked, laughing as she smacked him lightly on the side of the head.

"Nico," she growled, glaring at him before reaching into the bag. A little white container with gold flecks all over it was inside, and Lily spent a few minutes wondering where Jessie got her boxes and bags from – and the medicine, for that matter – before opening it.

"Yes, Princess?" he said sleepily, his eyes fluttering shut again. Lily gave him a worried look, remembering what Jessie had told her about him being in serious pain.

"Do you want some painkillers? I think there are some –"

"I don't need anything," he said, trying to look indignant while in the middle of a yawn. It just made her giggle. "I'm serious," Nico frowned. "I'm perfectly okay, I just need some sleep. Remember, with great power –"

"Comes great need to take a nap," Lily finished. "Percy told me. Get some sleep, okay?" She smiled at him as he mumbled something, his eyes closed and breathing even.

Opening the container in her hands, Lily scooped out a handful of some sort of gel – salve, she decided. Again, it smelled of roses and was pink and shimmery – what Jessie had changed about it she didn't know. Leaning over Nico, she began rubbing it into his chest, finding the task so much easier now that he was no longer bleeding at the slightest provocation.

"I get that you have to do that," Percy said from behind her a few minutes later, "But do you _have _to give him that sappy look while you do? It makes me want to either punch him or drag you away."

"Percy, shut up." Lily turned to glare at him.

"It's sickening! What have you even done to him? He used to scoff and sneer and be disgusted by all those Aphrodite tendencies before, but now he's all mushy and – yuck!" Percy's hands flew to his face as Lily lobbed a lump of salve at him.

"Go bother Annabeth," she said, turning back to Nico.

The couch creaked slightly as Percy sat down, protesting the additional weight. "Lily, come on. I feel like we haven't even seen each other's faces in ages, and you try to send me away as soon as I get here? You're my sister, we should…I dunno, just hang out sometimes or something."

Lily didn't look up from rubbing the gel into Nico's abdomen, but she rested her hands on his abs, letting them rise and fall with him as he breathed. "Percy, has Annabeth ever told you you're adorable?" She laughed.

"Yeah, a couple times," he blushed. "But –"

"But it hurts your manly pride to be told that?" she teased. "It's okay. Nico pretends to get upset whenever I tell him he's cute. Have you ever seen him pout?"

"No and I don't want to," Percy groaned, erasing the image of a pouting Nico from his mind. He did have a reasonably gifted imagination, but it was difficult to conjure a bearable image of his often-terrifying and super-powerful best friend pouting. Best not to try, he decided.

Lily looked around, and smiled when she saw Annabeth fast asleep on the other sofa, snoring softly. "So…what do you think?"

"Something's coming," he responded instantly. His sister raised her eyebrows and he sighed at her. "I just have this feeling, you know, like this" – he waved a hand around – "isn't it, isn't real, and there's something big we don't know about, that we're missing – Lily, are you okay? You just turned insanely pale."

She really was as white as a sheet, and Lily found that she couldn't breathe. Her eyes grew wide as she began to choke, gasping for air. Her vision began to swim as Percy began to shout. The last thing she remembered was Nico's dulcet tones piercing the air as strong arms wrapped around her.

Down in the Underworld, Persephone was staring at the diamond daisy in her hands, frowning. She'd just finished a conversation with Aphrodite, who had told her about Enyalius. But the goddess of love had refused to confront Ares about his servant, saying that he would probably just shout at her, deny everything, and then try to seduce her so she would forget about it.

Useless god, Persephone thought, shaking her head. How her friend could stand him she would never understand. Then again, no one understood how she could care for Hades, but she did.

She twirled the flower around her fingers delicately, running a tongue over her lips and wondering if she should tell Hades what she'd learned. Of course, it was entirely possible he already knew. That god had a tendency to know everything – especially because his ghosts kept him posted.

In that case, she decided, her husband probably knew quite a bit. Quite a bit more than she did, at any rate. And since they were married, it was time he learned to share.

Standing up, Persephone marched towards the gardens – for whatever strange reason her guards had told her he was there. "Husband!" she shouted, looking around.

"Yes?" A tall god had turned around barely six feet in front of her – and Persephone blinked, wondering how she had missed him. Oh well.

"We need to talk."

Hades sighed, obviously trying to keep his apparently frayed patience together. Then again, he was _always _out of patience. "Persephone, I don't think I have time to –"

"Yes you do. We need to discuss Eny–"

"Quiet!" Hades hissed the command, his long fingers latching around his wife's upper arm before melting them both into the shadows. They reappeared in one of the many rooms in the palace, and he released her. "Don't speak of that where we may be overheard."

Persephone rubbed her arm, scowling at him, but he didn't even seem to notice. He was too busy frowning at the ceiling. Great. "So…"

He didn't even turn to look at her. "Aphrodite needs to stop meddling."

"How is she meddling? She told me something you would have long ago if –"

Now he did turn to face her, and she found herself wishing he hadn't. The expression on his face was terrifying. "This has the potential to snowball into something massive," Hades snarled. "Enyalius is working with…someone. It isn't clear who, but Tartarus is involved in this whole mess."

"But how does that matter?" Persephone probed, hoping he wouldn't fly off the handle with her questions. "If Kronos isn't interfering this time, then we can surely defeat whatever he can throw at us."

"Cut the optimism," he growled. "Olympus defeated Typhon last time because we all managed to unite. This time…I don't know what it is, since I'm not very often on Olympus, but something is the matter. Their unity is crumbling, as it tends to do every few years. And we will all have to pay the price. And things at the camp are not as well as those demigods seem to believe."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Do you know where that Oracle – Rachel Dare – is? Or that son of Hephaestus, the one with power over fire?"

**A/N: Opinions, questions, comments? I love reviewwwwws! So please drop me one when you read this! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hi again! Guess what – it's another chapter! I know it's mostly a bunch of fluff but once I got started I couldn't stop for a while – it took a conscious effort. Blame my huge collection of Taylor Swift songs that I was playing while writing this. As some of you know, I don't have a beta so if there are any mistakes I apologize! Hope you enjoy this one, even with all the rambling.**

Chapter 11

Lily opened her eyes to see Isabelle hovering over her, spooning ambrosia into her mouth. "What happened?" she croaked, sitting up on her bunk. She was back in her cabin.

"You fainted," Isabelle answered, handing her a glass of water. "Nico caught you when you collapsed, said you were probably just tired after the whole Underworld mess. He carried you back here, made sure you were in your bed, and passed out on the floor. Percy and Connor moved him to his own cabin. As far as I know, he's still asleep."

"What about Jessie?" Lily pushed back the covers and swung her legs out, letting Isabelle steady her as she stood. The daughter of Athena turned around, giving Lily some privacy while she changed into a pair of black flare jeans and a dark blue V-neck.

"I actually have no idea," Isabelle mused.

"She said she had to go look for someone," Lily offered.

"I don't know…I haven't seen her or Leo ever since we…" Isabelle frowned. "Actually, I don't remember seeing Leo at all, just Jessie."

"He probably went straight to the Forge," Lily said, foraging around for food. She came up with a bag of sour cream and onion chips and popped the bag, offering it to Isabelle as she picked out two.

"Maybe." Isabelle took some chips.

They sat in silence for a few moments when a loud banging on the door caused Lily to draw her sword and Isabelle to jump up, grabbing a pillow for a weapon.

"Lily! Are you in there?" Jessie's panicked voice – and the sobs that were threatening to crush it – were enough to make Lily drop her sword with a clatter on the floor. She practically leaped to the door, wrenching it open. Jessie, who had been leaning on the door, collapsed into Lily's arms, crying.

"Jessie! What's wrong?" Lily led her friend to her bunk and sat her down, Isabelle sitting on Jessie's other side and putting an arm around her.

"I think we should make hot chocolate," Lily said to Isabelle over the soft sounds of Jessie's tears – the girl really cried quietly. "It always helps me calm down. Will you…while I…?"

Isabelle nodded and tightened her grip on Jessie while Lily stood and moved to the little "kitchenette" at the back of the cabin, returning soon with three steaming mugs.

"Here," she said, passing them around. She sat on the bunk opposite the two of them and waited until Jessie had blown on the drink and taken a cautious sip before speaking again. "Jessie, what is it?"

Jessie sniffled and took an extra-large gulp of the creamy hot chocolate, wincing as it seared her throat. "Leo! He's missing!" And incredibly, after that, she stopped crying, as if she were trying to wonder whether those words were true.

"Did you check the Forge or his cabin?" Isabelle asked.

"Of course!" Jessie kicked off her flip flops and crossed her legs under her. "I looked everywhere! I can't find him! When we got here, he…he told me he wanted to go to the Forge and see what Jake and the others were doing in there, and I haven't seen him since," she wailed.

"Shh," Lily soothed. "We'll find him, don't worry. Wait!" An idea had just struck her. "Let me go get Nico. He can order one of his ghosts to look for Leo – if they can't find him, no one can."

"I don't think you should bother him, he's probably tired," Jessie said cautiously. But it was too late. Lily had caught the brief flicker of hope in her eyes.

"I'll be right back," she said. "Let me go wake him up and get him here. Isabelle, will you stay?"

"Definitely."

"Hurry back," Jessie said with a weak laugh, "or I might finish your hot chocolate too."

Laughing, Lily skipped out the door and broke into a run as she headed for Cabin Thirteen. She barged in minutes later, completely out of breath, but made sure she closed the door softly when her eyes landed on Nico's sleeping form, and her lips stretched into an adoring smile.

He was lying diagonally across his bunk, his head resting on the far edge of the pillow. He hadn't changed still – those black jeans were dirty and ragged in areas, and he had no shirt on. But she ignored the blush staining her cheeks and moved to wake him, feeling guilty as she did so. He needed to rest, but she just needed him awake for a short while. He could sleep again after that.

She was wondering how to wake him when the boy in question sat up.

"How long were you planning on just staring?"

Lily flushed. "You were awake?"

"Hell yeah, as soon as you opened the damn door."

She winced. "Do you have to swear so much?"

"Sorry," he said, not looking at all contrite. "So what's up?" He patted the bed next to him, but she laughed and shook her head.

"First go change – I'd say shower but you had better not with that big mess on your chest. Change and then I'll sit with you."

Sticking his tongue out at her, Nico grabbed some clothes and walked into the adjoining bathroom, stepping out moments later and raising his eyebrows at her. "Better?"

He was wearing his normal outfit – more or less, anyway. Black jeans, with a silver chain hanging from a belt loop, and a black aviator's jacket. But the jacket was unzipped a few inches below his collarbone – enough for her to realize he hadn't bothered with a shirt beneath said jacket.

Lily blushed, and blushed when she realized she was reddening, but she bit the bullet and sat on the bed, facing him, both of them barefoot, both sitting cross-legged. "Nico, it's about Leo. He's been –"

"Missing, yeah."

She blinked. Whatever she'd been expecting, this wasn't it. "How do you know?"

"You remember asking me what I'd been dreaming of? I wanted to talk to Jessie first but didn't get a chance." He sighed, running a hand over his face tiredly. "Basically I had a dream about Leo…I don't know where he is, but he was chained up and, um, not looking too great."

He refused to meet her eyes as he said it, and she knew Leo was in a far worse shape than her boyfriend was letting on.

"And?" she whispered. Lily was intent on reading his body language. He wasn't very verbal to begin with – more physical – and the way he was almost hunching up told her he was hiding something.

"And nothing." When she sighed, Nico looked straight at her and grabbed her shoulders, shifting closer to her. "Listen, Lily, if I'm not telling you something, it's because you don't need to worry about it. I need to discuss it with Percy and Annabeth first, and if it is a problem I will definitely fill you in, okay?"

Lily let her eyes stare into his, hoping he saw the hurt she felt in them. "So basically you won't tell me anything until you tell my brother first? You won't tell me what's bothering you, what's scaring you, until Annabeth knows?" She huffed. "We're supposed to be a couple Nico! You know I care, why don't you just tell me! It's like, you always refuse to admit that you're scared, to show any weakness ever in front of people, which is fine if you want it that way, but this is me! You have to open up to me if you want this – us – to ever work! And you're always okay with it when everything's all fine and happy, but the moment something goes wrong I'm the last to know! When you're in pain you won't admit it or tell me – you just don't let me in, and then I can't ever help you!"

"Are you done?"

Lily gave a frustrated cry and shoved his hands off her shoulders. They flew off, and then wound around her waist, pulling her close so she was only an inch or two away from him.

"I'm not trying to block you out," he whispered, leaning forward and whispering in her ear. Lily felt his soft lips brush her earlobe lightly as he spoke and shivered, hoping he didn't notice the goosebumps erupting on her skin.

"Well you are," she said grumpily, trying desperately to hold on to her anger as she soothing, warm smell of cinnamon washed over her. He was just so close…

"I just…I'm kind of irrevocably screwed up, okay? And you're right, I don't like to admit to weakness. But, Lily, I am trying."

She felt him pull her even closer so she was nestled in his lap, leaning against his chest and letting him rest his chin on her hair. Nico chuckled softly, and she felt his chest rumble with the sound.

"I let myself sleep around you," he continued. Lily scoffed and he sighed. Sure, she liked to cuddle with him, but she was still mad. "You laugh," Nico said, nettled, "But that's a huge step for me. I rarely relax around other people, let alone sleep – unless I can't help it and I've passed out. And I never, ever cuddle. So it's safe to say I do open up."

"But why won't you tell me?" Lily knew she sounded like a petulant child, but she hated it when he kept secrets from her.

"You don't need to worry about it," Nico said firmly, and she knew he wouldn't elaborate further. "I'm not trying to hurt you," he added softly, leaning in and catching her earlobe in his teeth.

Lily's breath hitched as he nipped at the sensitive lobe, and he started to chuckle again. "Don't laugh," she mumbled in embarrassment, burying her face in his surprisingly soft jacket. "Don't."

"I won't," he breathed, his voice surprisingly husky. Lily felt her heartbeat beginning to go haywire as he leaned in, peppering her face with kisses – her cheekbone, her chin, her nose, her eyelids, and her nose again.

Then his dark eyes dropped to her mouth, and Lily's stomach dropped with anticipation – she loved how he could make her feel as if she were on a rollercoaster with the wind whipping her hair and the adrenaline rushing through her veins even _before _he kissed her.

Moving his neck, Nico tried to catch her mouth, but Lily leaned away, smiling at the growl of frustration that tore from his throat when she dodged for a second time. Muttering something, Nico leaned against the bedpost, stretched his legs out on the bed, and dragged her towards him in one swift movement.

"Stop dodging, Princess," he said, his voice rough, and Lily gave a little moan and gave in to the temptation that was Nico. He gave a soft groan as their lips finally connected and she smiled against his, threading her fingers through his fantastic hair and letting him bend her slightly backwards from the waist, his tongue dancing with hers.

"Missed doing this," Lily admitted when they broke apart for air. Nico smirked at her and her mouth went dry.

"Well then, let's get an overdose now," he grinned, dipping down again. Their necks moved together as they kissed. Lily couldn't stop herself from nearly quivering with delight as his tongue met hers again, the two twisting together in a dance of promise and love.

And his hands…she pressed herself closer into him as both his hands slipped inside her shirt, one caressing her side while the other ran halfway up her spine, rubbing burning slow circles on her back.

Her nails were digging into the back of his neck, her other hand busy running through his hair, and Nico thought dimly that she was the best thing he'd ever tasted. Better than chocolate and cinnamon cookies and…_ohhh gods do that again, girl! _

He growled and dove in deeper, eliciting a surprised squeal of pleasure from the girl in his arms. They were pressed together so closely in a tangle of limbs that it was almost difficult to distinguish them – until Lily broke the kiss.

"Sorry," she gasped out at his irritated expression. "Couldn't breathe."

"It's okay," he smiled, wrapping his arms around her petite form and burying his nose in her hair, inhaling the vanilla scent.

Suddenly she pulled away from him, so quickly that she had all but gotten away when his fingers wrapped around a slender ankle, the only part of her he could reach.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded. "We only just got started."

"I told Jessie you could set a ghost out to look for Nico, so now that I've told you I should get back to her, she was a total mess."

"Stay," he replied, tightening his grip on her ankle. "Is she with someone?"

"Isabelle, but –"

"She'll be fine," he interrupted. "Isabelle will handle her – those Athena people always know what to do. Admit it – you can stay."

"No, I can't," Lily snapped, scowling when she failed to free her foot after a moment of wriggling. In fact, she nearly fell off the bed when trying, making Nico laugh. "Shut up," she mumbled, her face red.

"You can stay," he whispered, his dark eyes dancing with mirth and mischief. "Admit it."

"No, now let go!" She tried to pull away again but couldn't, and settled for glaring at him and snuggling into his super-soft pillow. Seconds later she gasped and jerked in his grip. He'd run the nail of his finger up the sole of her foot, from her heel to the base of her big toe, and she couldn't help her reaction.

"Ticklish?" he smirked.

"Don't you dare, Nico," she scowled, answering his question. But seconds later she was slumped against the pillow, giggling helplessly and uncontrollably as his agile fingers danced over her sensitive foot, kicking but unable to free her ankle from his tight grasp.

"Nico, stop!" she squealed, and moaned with relief when he did. She closed her eyes, but gasped when she felt a weight land against her. Opening them, she found that he was lying over her, supporting himself on his forearms so he wouldn't crush her completely, but letting her feel enough of his weight that she couldn't effectively move. The boy was too smart for his own – and her own – good, she decided.

His light breath wafted against her skin as he kept her pinned. "Admit it," Nico breathed, his voice heavy with suppressed laughter.

Lily rolled her eyes. He loved winning too much. "Get off, you big bully."

"Wrong answer again," he proclaimed. But he did nothing.

After a few moments of uncomfortable maneuvering, Lily managed to slip her hands between her chest and Nico's. Bracing herself against him, she pushed upwards, trying to dislodge him.

He gave a soft laugh, and shifted against her. For a moment she didn't realize what he was doing, but when she felt her shirt begin to slide up, she began squirming, struggling to get free. But then his fingers began to fly as he tickled her exposed stomach, her shirt scrunched up over her ribcage, and she was laughing uncontrollably and loudly, writhing beneath him.

Nico watched her as he tickled her, loving the way her laughter was so free and unrestrained, her cheeks pink and her eyes, when they were open, sparkling. Her hands were beating his chest, but the blows were so soft that he barely even felt them. It was a token resistance – he knew she was loving every minute of it, and took advantage of that to leave a few love bites on her neck and shoulders while she was distracted.

Suddenly he flicked a finger over her navel and Lily bucked against his hips before she'd realized what she was doing. He growled again and suddenly his mouth was on her in a hot, searing kiss, his hands moving over every inch of her smooth, soft, exposed abdomen he could touch as he lost himself in her.

A loud crash brought them back to reality with a jolt. Lily shrieked at the sudden sound and Nico reacted without thinking – he grabbed the hilt of a knife sticking out from under the mattress and flung it at the sound.

"Damn it, it's me!" Percy bellowed, barely dodging the knife. He had slammed the door against the wall when he entered, startling them. Lily stared at him, too shocked to see her brother there to even consider extricating herself from her compromising situation. But while she didn't notice it, Percy and Nico both did.

Percy's jaw dropped and his face began to turn red as he stared. "What the hell are you two _doing_?" he practically screamed.

Lily blushed maroon and sat up as Nico got off her, pulling down her shirt and straightening it, looking everywhere but at the two boys in the room. This was so embarrassing!

But the sound of shouting roused her, and she looked around to see Nico kneeling on the bed and bellowing at Percy.

" – you and Annabeth fool around all the time, do you see Malcolm threatening you every two minutes? No! So just learn to knock before you barge in!" Nico paused for breath, leaving both of the children of Poseidon stunned. Lily hid a smile. She'd known he had a temper when roused, and it was good to know he wasn't so hurt that it had been subdued.

Percy glared. "You two had better not…you know…" he turned beet red.

"Percy," Lily said, crawling on her knees over to Nico and putting his arm around her waist, "Do us all a favor, and shut up."

He muttered something and stared at the ground, still red.

"Are you leaving now? You interrupted us, and I'd like to – ow!" Nico yelped as Lily slapped his arm.

"Don't be rude," she chastised. "Percy, what did you need?"

"Not to see you two doing that," he muttered under his breath. "I wanted to talk to Nico about…um…"

"About?" Nico raised his eyebrows. Percy wasn't going to get off so easily after interrupting the most fun he'd had in ages. He pulled Lily a little closer and let his hand rest on her thigh, enjoying the blush seeping through her skin.  
"I think I'll leave you guys to it," Lily said. She tried to get up onto her knees but Nico's fingers suddenly dug into her thigh and she squealed, collapsing into his lap. Damn her ticklish self. And him. He knew her too well.

"You can talk in front of her," Nico said, his curiosity piqued.

"Rachel Dare is missing," Percy said. For a moment everyone was silent.

"Who's that?" Lily asked. Neither of them would meet her eyes, and she could feel that the lightheartedness had melted out of her. Something was wrong – Nico had his poker face on, and Percy was looking almost terrified.

"Where have you looked?" Nico asked, ignoring her question.

"Everywhere. Annabeth told me to ask you to set a ghost or two out to look for her. It's no good if the enemy can predict everything we do – and we needed her here. We don't even know who or what the enemy _is_."

"She's the Oracle, Lily," Nico explained. "She can make prophecies, gets glimpses of the future, gets feelings that turn out to be scarily accurate. It's what I didn't want to tell you," he admitted sheepishly. "Didn't want to worry you too much. We can't afford to lose her – not when we know so little."

"Percy, Leo's missing too!" Lily cried. "Jessie's been searching everywhere, she's panicking, Nico –"

"I had a dream. He's chained up and beat up." Nico stood and got off the bed, pulling on socks and shoes. "I'm going to go get some ghosts to see what's going on, if they can." He turned to Lily, who also had her sandals back on, and gave her a quick kiss before propelling her towards Percy. "You stay with him, got it. No going anywhere alone. Spread the word – everyone travels in pairs at the minimum. Even the guys."

"What about you?" Lily stared at him. She knew he hated to saddle himself with other people.

He gave her a terrifying smile. "I am the son of death, remember? I pity anyone who bothers me." Nico turned to Percy. "Since Rachel's gone, I have something to tell you." His eyes flickered to Lily, and her breathing quickened. Something was badly, badly wrong.

"Nico…" The sound passing her lips was barely a whisper.

"If you want a pointer, think who enjoys violence the –" He collapsed suddenly, before he could finish the sentence. Lily screamed and dropped to her knees, cupping his face in her hands. She could hear Percy running to the door, shouting for help.

"Nico! Why did you, you knew what the risks were!" He was shaking in her hands, but his eyes were shut. Then he began twitching, and she watched in helpless terror as blood began to soak his shirt.

Chiron and Percy and Will Solace were crowding around but she refused to move from Nico's side, watching in a daze as they tried to revive him. Fear. This was what it was. A cold, numbing sensation that rendered you immobile, helpless, useless. That made your heart flutter in panic but your body refuse to respond, refuse to move, refuse to be able to help. Fear. She hated it. It was the one thing she knew Nico had never felt. And she had felt it too much.

**A/N: Reviews, anyone? Love to hear from you :D Made it a bit longer than usual for everyone who reviewed the last one. You guys made my day!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: And here is my next chapter! But before you read it, I have to say thank you. Seriously. I got an amazing response for the last chapter – much, much better than the one before it. You guys rock! Can we keep it up? I felt like I HAD to write as fast as I could to update for all you awesome people. And we're well over the halfway mark for the number of reviews I got for Ocean Eyes…do you think we can top it? ;)**

**Enjoy the chapter. You all deserve it and better! :D**

Chapter 12

Lily was walking through a barren wasteland, fires burning all around her as the soles of her boots crunched over the blackened, charred ground. Flaming trees stood to her left, branches crumbling as she watched. The air was heavy with smoke and the scent of blood.

She stumbled over something and looked down to feel her heart stop beating. Jessie lay at her feet, clearly dead. A bloody wound in her chest. Lily felt her breath catch as she broke into a run, tears running down her face. But soon she was keening, wailing in despair. Everywhere she fled, everywhere she turned, more bodies met her – empty, staring eyes and bloody wounds.

She saw Percy, Annabeth, Isabelle, Leo, Connor, Clarisse…even unfamiliar bodies. All dead.

There was only one thought pounding through her as she whirled around, looking for an escape route. She needed to find Nico. The trees…the trees, afire as they were, were her only route to freedom. And she took it.

Ducking as a burning branch fell over her head, Lily sprinted through the woods, a chilling realization striking her as she did. She knew these trees. She passed nymphs trying to put out the fires, other collapsing as their trees died, and knew. This was no random forest. She was at Camp Half-Blood.

A flaming branch landed on her shoulder before falling off, leaving an agonizing burn on her skin. She sobbed aloud with the pain but kept running until the trees fell away before her, revealing the rocks of Zeus's Fist.

And she froze.

Nico was on those rocks, his face battered and bruised. His mouth and nose were bleeding, and that same red liquid was trickling from his matted hair. There were cuts all over his body, but at that moment he was screaming in sheer agony. A man stood above him, slicing a sword through his chest.

Enyalius turned, grinning at her. "Hey, girlie. Nice of you to join the party."

"What are you doing?" she screamed, frozen to the spot. "Stop it!"

His face twisted. "I'll stop it," he hissed. He stabbed Nico in the heart, and the boy threw Lily a look of shock and pain before collapsing. Dead. Bleeding. Bleeding. Dead.

"Nico!" Lily pressed a fist to her mouth to keep herself from wailing his name again. He was dead, gone…

"Listen up, girlie," Enyalius ordered, appearing right in front of her. His bloodstained sword pressed into her neck, and she fought the urge to hurl. That was her boyfriend's blood on his sword. "You're dreaming," he whispered. "This isn't real. But I promise you, if your boyfriend or you pull a stunt like that again, this will be very real. I will make your very existence a nightmare. We are coming. And the gods are very kindly ignoring us, too busy squabbling amongst themselves. They are no match for us. I am punishing him for his interference – hopefully it will kill him, I can't be certain." He spat on the ground. "Hades is protecting his son – or the boy is naturally strong, I don't know. But he's fighting."

He stepped away, leering at her. "You have been warned. Feel free to tell lover boy about this, but if you – either of you – mention it to anyone else, you will suffer the consequences."

The world spun around her as the dream melted away, and Lily opened her eyes. She was in her cabin, on her bunk, again. She scrambled out of her bed and into the bathroom, retching. Afterwards, she sank against the cabinet under the sink, her chest heaving. They were screwed. Royally screwed.

"Lily?" The sound of Percy's voice hit her like a physical blow, and she jumped up and ran from the bathroom into the cabin. He was standing by her bed, staring in confusion at the empty sheets.

She ran up to her brother and flung her arms around him, pulling him close, her head resting on his chest. His heartbeat pounded firmly against her cheek and she sighed. After seeing him so lifeless in her dream, she had felt a sudden need to be with him.

Percy hugged her back, patting her on the head. "You okay?"

Lily nodded, afraid she would cry if she opened her mouth or met his gaze.

"Nico's stable," he said, still stroking her hair. "Chiron fixed him up – took hours, though. Annabeth and I moved you here – you just sat with him and then fell asleep after a while. Do you want to come see him? She told me to ask you."

"Yes, I'll come," Lily said quietly, pulling away. "Big House?"

He shook his head. "His cabin. We moved him as soon as we could. Chiron says he'll get better faster surrounded by obsidian and everything Hades. So we put him there."

"Okay. I'll see you, Percy." She slipped out the door, hoping he would realize she wanted to have some time alone with Nico. He did, and she thanked the gods for giving her such an amazing brother.

In record time, she was pushing open the door to Nico's cabin, the black interior illuminated by the green fire burning from skulls and the warm glow of the fireplace. It was an interesting contrast.

He was lying in his bed, the sheets drawn up around him. He was deathly pale, and the tendons stood out in his neck. She sat on the bunk next to his, kicking off her flats and drawing her knees up to her chest, watching him. Waiting.

An hour later he stirred, and sat up, yawning. His entire body ached – he felt like he'd been tossed around by a Cyclops and then crashed into a cliff. His chest, where the cut was, was throbbing, and his head pounded. Fantastic.

Looking for some nectar or ambrosia, Nico turned to his left and swore in shock. Lily was sitting there, silently staring at him, and her eyes looked huge in the reflecting firelight.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

Nico was about to say he was fine when he remember the fit she had thrown earlier about him not telling her everything and sighed. "Bit sore, but I'll be fine in a bit."

Lily bit her lip. She knew he – like most guys – tended to deemphasize everything. He was probably in insane amounts of pain. When he tried to get up, something in her brain snapped and she sprang across the gap between them, shoving him back down. "You are not moving," she ordered, looking around. She spotted a pink bowl, matching pink spoon, and pink sticky note on the mantelpiece above the fireplace and chuckled.

"What?" Nico asked grumpily. "What's the joke?"

"Jessie," Lily answered, walking over to the mini-explosion of pink. "She's obsessed with pink."

The neat, pretty cursive she'd come to expect from her best friend was covering the little sticky note. Lily picked it up, her eyes scanning over the small handwriting.

_Hey Lily! _It read. _I know you're probably reading this because no one should be letting Nico get out of bed for at least four more hours while his body gets used to the awful treatment it's been getting – and then healing after that. But anyway, I stuck some ambrosia squares in the bowl, and I added the spoon because it's pretty and I like to eat the stuff with a spoon. MAKE SURE HE FINISHES IT. See you – Jessie. _

She smiled at the note and put it back on the obsidian mantelpiece, picking up the ambrosia and crossing the room again. "Here, Nico – Jessie left this for you. She says you have to finish all of it, and you aren't to get up for four hours at least."

"Sure," Nico grinned, taking the ambrosia and spooning it into his mouth. "Mmmm. Wait – four hours? What on earth is she smoking? I am not –"

"Nico, shut up," Lily snapped, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. "You nearly died…again! Somehow you spend half your time nearly dying, and I am sick of it! So you will shut your mouth, eat whatever she's left for you, and sleep for the next four hours at least or I will knock you out and tie you down and not let you up for the rest of the day, got it? And you will _not _do what you did again. You knew what would happen! How could you be so stupid to even try it?"

He stabbed at the ambrosia with the pink spoon, giving the innocent squares a death glare. "I tried it because we need to get the point across! He hasn't contacted us since, I thought maybe he's forgotten or whatever. And since he's a minor god, I didn't think he would be able to inflict too bad of a punishment either."

Lily, who had been about to interrupt after his second sentence, blinked in confusion. "The punishment depends on the god?"

He nodded. "Lily, relax. I won't get up, okay?"

Hesitating, she finally gave him a little smile and padded barefoot over to him, sitting down on top of the sheets next to him. "So…"

"Right. When you swear on the Styx to a god, from what I know, if you break the oath your punishment depends on the god you've sworn to. When Percy and Thalia were in trouble because their parents broke the oath, monsters came after them from Tartarus – because they'd broken the oath to my father. He chose what to do, and he sent his little creatures out after them. It's like that. So I slightly possibly violated the promise you gave Enyalius, and he…"

"What exactly did he do?"

Nico shrugged, tossing the empty bowl onto a little nightstand near him and then aiming the spoon perfectly into the bowl. "Just a little reminder," he said airily, wincing inwardly as he remembered the horrific pain he had been through. And the worst part was that he had been conscious for the entire ordeal – too weak to open his eyes, but conscious. He could feel every inch of him burning with agony as his chest felt as if it was being torn open by a bed of blunt nails.

Lily watched him with worried eyes. She had watched him bite down on his lip until it bled to keep from screaming, remembered him twitching with pain in her arms, and knew he was trying to pass it off. But this time she didn't press him.

Instead, she told him about her dream. Nico spent the next five minutes swearing until he ran out of breath.

"Shit," he muttered finally. "Who is 'we'? Please tell me he doesn't have another army of monsters built up. But as long as there isn't a Titan or anything involved we should be okay. Provided the gods don't fracture…" He frowned, obviously stressed.

Lily watched him, her eyes raking over his tense muscles. He was worrying too much when he wasn't strong enough for any extra tension.

"Want to sleep?"

Nico shook his head, his hair flopping lightly with the motion. "No."

"You need to," she said softly. One of his hands was resting near her knee and she reached out and took it in her left hand, slipping her fingers in between his.

"No!" he snapped. When he saw her shocked face, Nico shook his head again. "I'm sorry. I – the nightmares, I don't want to…it's…"

"Shhh." Scarcely considering what she was doing for fear that she would change her mind, Lily slid under the covers and cuddled up next to him, wrapping her arms around him gently so she wouldn't aggravate the cut. "It's okay, I'm right here. Nothing's gonna happen, okay? Get some sleep."

Initially she felt him tense in her hold, but slowly he relaxed.

"Lily…" His whisper was gravelly with tiredness as he sank into the mattress. "What are you doing?"

"Staying," she breathed back. "I'll wake you if you have a nightmare."

For a moment Nico stayed still, and then he moved again, sinking lower and closer to her, burying his face in her warm neck, winding his arms around her waist and hips. Lily pressed her lips to his hair as she cradled his neck and head in her arms, his head resting on her hair.

Lily could feel his breaths against his neck, his lips brushing against her tingling skin. In minutes he was asleep, and she felt herself giving in to the warmth and comfort of his body as her own eyes fluttered closed. But she fought the feeling.

His face was so unguarded that she couldn't help staring at him, dipping her head to kiss his hair over and over. Lying there, with him in her arms, she felt something hit her – something she'd acknowledged before. She loved him. Really, really loved him. And it didn't scare her. It just felt wonderfully right. Like hot chocolate and whipped cream. With chocolate syrup over it. A warm, soothing feeling going from the inside out. Which felt even better because she knew he felt the same way.

She hugged him a little tighter, snuggling closer to him. Feeling him do the same, Lily leaned over to look at his face and smiled. He was responding in his sleep! He was too cute.

A slight noise made her shift around, and her heart flew into her mouth as the door slowly but soundlessly swung open. Loud footsteps sounded from outside as a shadow moved into the doorway, and moments later more noise came.

"Thalia, wait!" It was Percy's voice that Lily heard, but what snapped her into action was Thalia's name.

Several things happened nearly simultaneously. Thalia stepped in with a spear in her hand, Percy barged in after her with Riptide in his hand, and Lily sprang out of the bed, snagging a sword Nico had left on a nightstand and crouching in a defensive position with the sword in her hand, between Thalia and Nico.

"What do you want," she snarled, conscious that there was a very feral expression on her face. But no matter. She would protect what was hers – especially when it was asleep and defenseless.

"Just to talk," Thalia said, eyeing the Stygian iron sword a little nervously. She'd heard the rumors about those weapons and wasn't eager to test them. "You can put that down."

"Drop the spear. Outside the door. Then we can talk," Lily responded testily, not letting her guard down. Never trust the enemy.

Thalia tossed the spear away, and Percy let Riptide clatter to the floor. Both girls looked at him.

"Were you in that bed?" Percy choked out finally, and Lily felt her face flush instantly. He had noticed. Crap.

"Well, we weren't…we didn't do anything!" Lily protested. "Promise! He's been having nightmares and –"

"He's not the only one," Thalia sighed, crossing her arms. "And you can stop acting like I'm going to try to kill him the moment you turn around, okay, Lily? Jessie talked to me and made me promise to stop hating him and get others to and all that, so we're alright. You mind putting that thing down now?"

Lily smirked. If everyone was going to react to Stygian iron weapons like that, she definitely wanted one. But she dropped it back onto the little table. "Well we can't talk here – he's asleep. So –"

"He's not asleep anymore," Nico mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "What happened?"

Percy swelled like a bullfrog, and Lily rushed to interrupt. "Um, Thalia, can you give us a minute? We'll meet you in the Big House – is that okay?"

Thalia grinned, her stormy eyes flickering between the visibly furious Percy and a very sleepily blinking Nico. "Sure thing. And good luck, girl. You're gonna need it." Chuckling, she walked out, pulling the door shut behind her.

Pushing back the sheets, Nico sat on top of them and stared at Percy, who looked like he was going to have a hemorrhage. "Percy, what _happened_ to you?"

Lily winced. Bad move, Nico. Bad, bad, bad move.

"Were you in _bed_ with my little sister?" Percy growled, grabbing Riptide from the floor and advancing on Nico.

The son of Hades just yawned. "Relax, Perce. We didn't do anything, I can promise you that on the Styx. I mean, I still have all my clothes on!"

Percy winced. "Did not need that comment. Okay, fine, I believe you." He sighed. "Sorry. Just…lost it back there."

"It's okay," Nico mumbled, looking around blearily. "Was that Thalia in here?"

"Yeah, I told her we'd meet her in the Big House soon. She says she wants to talk," Lily said, staying in the corner even though the boys seemed to have gotten over whatever was going on.

"Fantastic," he grumbled, flopping backwards onto the bed and groaning. "I don't want to talk to her! Percy, tell her I have the flu. The flu and, um, gangrene or something. I am very sick and can't get up, and if I see her face again I will die a horrible grisly death. And my dad will not be happy."

"You are such a drama queen," Percy teased. "Fine, I'll tell her the big bad son of Hades is scared of a daughter of Zeus whose already told his super protective girlfriend that she was convinced by Jessie to quit trying to kill him and to tell everyone else to do the same."

Nico raised his head. "Super protective girlfriend?"

Percy grinned, and Lily felt a sudden urge to crawl under the bed and die. "You should've seen her when Thalia barged in with her spear drawn. She kind of jumped up and grabbed your sword from over there and she was like crouching in front of you with that blade in her hand looking like if Thalia took another step she was going to die, daughter of Zeus or no." He laughed. "It was pretty funny, especially after Thalia realized that she had to stay put and I stopped worrying she was going to get killed."

"You did that?" Nico stared at Lily in disbelief. "Somehow you always come across as harmless…Did I miss something?"

"I think you missed the part about her being totally in love with you," Percy answered, standing up. He looked at both their reddening faces and rolled his eyes. "Get over it, you two."

"Just because Annabeth and you sorted it out years ago," Lily said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Nico, come on, we should go. She's been waiting."

"Yeah." He stood up, slid on some shoes, and sprinted over to the door, hooking his sword into the leather belt around his hips as he did so. "Come on, Poseidon people!"

Lily grinned at him. "Where's all the energy coming from, Mr. Peppy?" The grin slid off her face. "You're supposed to be in bed for like three more hours! Get back in there, I'll tell you what she says later."

"Oh, for the love of daddy," Nico groaned. "I am fine, absolutely perfectly perfect!"

Lily narrowed her eyes. Counting to ten inside her head and praying for patience.

"Look, I'm fine!" Nico tore open his button-down shirt, showing a wound that was at least halfway healed and some very toned muscles. "This'll be gone in no time!"  
Lily stared at him. "But…but you were bleeding everywhere, I was holding you! How…?"

He shifted uneasily. "Whatever did this…tried to reopen it. Chiron stopped it, but he said he couldn't do a complete job of it. So he's contained it." Nico pointed to a smallish black mark, in the shape a raindrop makes when it splatters on the sidewalk, above his heart. Near where the cut began. "He says it may open up again, but he doesn't know when. Apparently it's going to take either serious godly power or a recantation to get rid of it. Right now we don't have either, so I'm going to live with it." He buttoned his shirt up again.

"Oh, Nico," Lily whispered. She knew what he was trying to say. Enyalius would reopen it whenever it suited him, whenever he managed to counteract Chiron's influence. And it could very possibly kill him. "I'm so sorry!"

She flew at him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly, hiding her face in his neck. It was hot, and she closed her eyes, praying to Aphrodite that there would never be a day when she would hug him and find the skin there cold as ice. That prayer was all she had now.

He put his arms around her, crushing her to his body. "Hey," he whispered in her ear. "It's okay. Look at me." Nico felt her shudder and groaned internally. She was crying. "Look at me, Princess." Sliding two fingers under her chin, he raised her face up, relieved to find her blinking back the tears and not openly sobbing. This he could handle. "Remember who my father is? I'm not so easy to kill. And plus my dad kind of likes me now. It'll keep the worst off my back until we figure something out, okay?" He grinned roguishly. "And anyway, I think I can do that myself."

Lily laughed shakily. "You're so cocky." Moving her hand behind his head, she began to pull him down for a kiss when the sound of a throat being cleared shook her. Shoot. She'd forgotten Percy.

"Well," Percy said, standing up, "That was very sweet, I guess, but there's no time for you guys to make out now, and frankly I don't want to see it. Thalia's waiting, let's go." And he herded them out the door.

In the Big House, they found Thalia waiting for them in the dining room. "Ah. Everyone's still alive," she grinned, looking genuinely friendly. Lily sat next to her.

"So…what?" Nico asked, sitting down opposite Thalia, Percy next to him.

"My hunters." Thalia frowned. "We always do night duty, usually up on the roof, one at a time. There are shifts. But last night the girl who was on duty swears she saw somebody drag someone else out from the Forge. I think the person kidnapped was Leo Valdez."

Lily took in a hissing breath. "Yeah, he's been taken. So he was snatched from the Forge?"  
Thalia rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking worried. "Yes, but that's not the point." She looked around at them all. "Please, I'm telling you guys because I know you won't run around spreading this. My hunters have all promised to keep the secret until we know more. Percy, you can tell Annabeth once she wakes up – I trust her."

"Get to the point," Nico grumbled. "I was in the middle of this great dream, where Lily and I –"

Percy cuffed him over the ear and he yowled, returning the blow.

"Stop!" Thalia shouted. "We don't have time for this! The girl I had on duty saw who it was. She says the person was acting alone and armed."

"And? Who was it?" Lily prompted.

"Clarisse."

**A/N: Comments? REVIEWS . Pretty please. Cinnamon and ice cream and un-candied strawberries on top.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hi everyone! So first off – thaaaank youuuuu everybody for the fantastical reviews you've been leaving recently! I think I'm running out of different ways to say thank you now, so if it gets repetitive I apologize, but seriously it feels so amazing to open my inbox and see all those reviews. Please keep them coming, and enjoy my latest offering to you all! **

Chapter 13

"Yeah?" Annabeth yawned, sitting up. She and Lily were in the Big House – and the daughter of Athena had been shaken awake by the sixteen-year-old girl moments ago.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to bother you but I wanted to ask you something," Lily said, biting her lip nervously.

"Go ahead," Annabeth mumbled, rubbing her eyes and reaching for the canteen of nectar Percy had left for her.

Lily told her about Clarisse, and then sat forward, a crease between her eyebrows. "I was just wondering…she was dating someone, right?"

"Yeah, Chris Rodriguez," Annabeth answered without missing a beat. "She found him a few years ago in the Labyrinth, he'd gone insane but she took him home and tried to nurse him back. Dionysus healed him for her…" Her eyes widened.

"Which cabin?"

"Hermes. Do you think –"

Lily nodded. "I mean, from what you and Percy told me about her in the last war and everything, it doesn't make sense that she would suddenly, you know, just kidnap Leo like that."

Annabeth jumped to her feet, waving away Lily's protests. "I'm fine, it was just a couple scratches and they're healed, see? Now come on."

"I hope we're wrong," Lily muttered, jogging out the door after Annabeth. "Hey, Annabeth!" she shouted, as she found herself getting left behind. "Slow down! Percy is going to have my head on a gold plate lined with diamonds if you don't!"

But Annabeth stopped quickly, and Lily nearly crashed into her. "What?"

"Over there," Annabeth said, pointing.

"Ugh," Lily groaned, following Annabeth's finger and then reflexively covering her eyes. "Do you really want to watch Isabelle and Connor making out?"

"Of course not," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. "But Connor's a Hermes, he can help!"

"No!" Lily grabbed Annabeth's arm, hauling her back. "Let's go find Travis. Connor's…busy. And Isabelle will kill me for interrupting."

"No, she won't. You're with me. And big sisters always win." Annabeth marched forward, Lily hurrying behind her. "Hey! Break it up, you two!"

Isabelle's annoyed face surfaced. "What?"

"I want to ask Connor something, but his mouth needs to be away from yours for him to be able to answer," Annabeth retorted.

"Travis is by the lake. I'm busy," Connor mumbled, grabbing Isabelle and bending over her again.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Come on, we'll make it to the lake in a few minutes. We aren't getting anywhere with these two."

"I don't get it," Annabeth mused as they walked along at a more sedate pace. "They could've broken apart for a moment…"

"I think it's because of Jessie and Leo," Lily sighed. "Now that he's gone she's like…lost, you know? All she does is sit around, cry, stare at his picture, and train obsessively. I pity anyone who irritates her – she's going to snap at any second. But I think it's reminded everyone about how we're still demigods – we could die any day. You might as well kiss who you want to now."

"But you don't see me spending my every waking moments kissing the life out of Seaweed Brain, and I don't sneak out at night to stay with him either." She laughed at Lily's quizzical look. "Isabelle left last night, and I was worried since you know, Leo was taken, so I followed her, and she and Connor took sleeping bags out to Zeus's Fist and spent the night kind of sheltered by the rocks." Annabeth quirked an eyebrow. "But you're the really lucky one – your boyfriend has his entire cabin to himself."

Lily blushed, and Annabeth crowed with laughter. "I don't believe it! Have you actually spent the night in there with him?"

"No!" Lily allowed herself a smile. "But I kind of held him while he slept earlier…and then of course Percy and Thalia had to walk in."

Annabeth doubled over laughing, and Lily joined in. "That sounds hilarious!" Annabeth shouted finally. "Did Percy get all red and everything?"

"Yeah, I thought he was going to kill Nico when the thickhead woke up and asked what had happened," Lily giggled. "But apparently friendship is life insurance for those two."

"Boys are like that," Annabeth said wisely. "Crazy."

Laughing, Lily looked around. "Oh, look! Travis!"

They skipped down the slight slope towards him. "Hey, Travis!" Annabeth yelled.

He looked up, grinning. "Let me guess. Connor sent you here because he and his girlfriend are…busy." Travis pulled a face.

"Yup," Lily said, tilting her head back to look at him. Nico, Percy, Connor, Travis…why were all boys so darn tall?

"Have you seen Chris lately?" Annabeth asked. "Chris Rodriguez?"

Travis stared. "He went to visit his aunt, he said. Something about her being in LA and really sick…didn't Clarisse tell you?"

"Did she tell you?" Lily questioned, her heart thumping. This was bad.

"Yeah, he just kind of left, and she told me afterwards. Looked pretty sad, too – didn't think her facial expressions ranged that far, but yeah."

"Oh." Annabeth frowned. "Well, thanks!"

"That's it?" Travis moaned. "I thought you two wanted to talk to me!"

Annabeth grinned. "We're taken, buddy, but I'm sure there's a girl out there who's pining for you every night."

He smirked, smoothing down his hair. "Ah, well. Can't help it. I'm hot."

Lily giggled. "You sound just like Nico."

"Except he is hot," Annabeth laughed. "Don't tell Percy I said that."

"Speaking of Nico, he thinks no one should be out alone anymore. He says it isn't safe." Lily gave Travis a pointed look.

"I can handle whatever comes my way," he laughed, "But I'll tell you what. You two can walk me past my cabin then, and I'll drop in there and find someone to take around with me. Happy?"

"Sure," Annabeth said, leading the way back to the cabins. "And make sure you tell your cabin about that, okay? We don't need any more people disappearing or anything."

"And is Nico taking someone around everywhere with him?" Travis raised his eyebrow. Then he smirked. "Oh, wait. I forgot he's stuck to Lily like super glue whenever they're together."

"He is not!" Lily protested, even though she knew he was just teasing her. "Oh, here's your cabin. Goodbye. I'm sure you can walk twenty feet on your own without getting killed."

Travis scoffed. "That's definitely at least thirty feet, okay? And yeah, I'm man enough to handle such a huge distance all alone." He grinned. "I'll see you two around, okay?"

They waved at him as he jogged off, and then looked at each other.

"So what do we do now?" Lily demanded. "Do we go straight to Clarisse?"

"No," Annabeth said slowly, dragging the word out as she shook her head. "We should tell Percy."

"And Nico," Lily reminded her.

"Yeah. And Chiron. And we'll figure out where to go from there, I think. We definitely shouldn't let Clarisse know we know anything or suspect anything until we've discussed it with them first."

"Should we tell Jessie?"

"Nico and Percy first. You get yours, I'll get mine. Percy will tell Chiron later today, and once Chiron knows we'll tell Jessie and Isabelle, and Connor if she insists, but they'll have to agree to keep their mouths shut till we tell them they can talk."

"Okay. We'll come find you guys, okay? Don't let Percy out of your sight – he keeps interrupting us and it's driving me crazy. Please?"

Annabeth giggled, her blonde curls bouncing as she took a few steps back. "I'll try to keep him…occupied." She smirked. "Have fun!"

Laughing, Lily sprinted for the Hades cabin, only to find it deserted. Frowning, she looked around, wondering where else he could be. After dropping by the Big House, Lily headed for the woods, hoping she would find him either near the creek or Zeus's Fist. If not…better not to think about that.

She slipped quietly between the trees, trying to suppress a shiver of cold dread as she remembered the dream Enyalius had so kindly engineered for her. But the memories pressed against her mind, and by the time she made it to Zeus's Fist she was shivering, a cold sweat erupting over her skin.

The rocks, though, were alone with themselves and the world, calming her slightly. At least there was no screaming, dying Nico to greet her. Lily was about to turn, to go lok for her boyfriend somewhere else, when something caught her eye. The edge of a black pair of Vans.

When she rounded the side of the rock formation she found Nico sitting underneath an overhang of rocks that nearly hid him from view – the only part of him she could see was his shoe. Dropping to her knees, she crawled under the insanely low overhang and found him sitting with his head on his knees, leaning against the rock behind him.

"Nico," she whispered, moving towards him on her hands and knees. "You okay?"

He started, jerking his head up, but relaxed visibly when he saw her. Lily frowned as he didn't answer, just held out his arms, but she couldn't resist snuggling into them.

"What's wrong?" Lily prodded, twisting in his grip to face him.

"Just thinking," Nico mumbled, tapping his shoe against the leaf-covered ground. "Wanted to get a different perspective."

"You definitely got that," Lily said distractedly, looking around. "This place is kind of nice, but it's a bit dark. Do you want to go somewhere else?" She was serious about the dark. She could see, of course, but it was dim, and that made her uncomfortable. As if something was lurking in the shadows – except that she was what was lurking in those shadows.

"No," he said, quietly but firmly. "I like it here. But you don't have to stay if you don't." When she was silent, Nico tightened his grip on her. For a moment he didn't realize why she wanted to leave when it hit him – she'd even said it. The dark. He felt at home in it, but since Hades spent half his time trying to kill Poseidon's children, she probably didn't.

But before he could offer to leave the little alcove with her, she spoke again.

"What were you thinking about? You looked a bit stressed when I came in."

"About Clarisse," Nico muttered. "It doesn't make some sense to me."

"About that," Lily said hesitantly, "I think she had a reason." Nico raised his eyebrows at her, and she hurried to continue. "I asked Annabeth, and apparently she's been dating this guy Chris Rodriguez for a while now, right?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't really keep track of this stuff, but what does it have to do with –"

"Chris is missing," Lily interrupted. That shut him up. "Well, we're not positive, but Annabeth and I asked Travis and he said Chris is in LA visiting a sick aunt, but he heard it from Clarisse, who looked really sad when she told him, so I think Chris has been taken too and they're blackmailing Clarisse with that."

What he said next was not what she had expected at all. "You know Travis is a total flirt, right?"

"Did you listen to _anything_ I said?" Lily snapped. "How is that even –"

"Of course I listened, it makes a lot of sense, but right now we can't do anything about that. And only one guy is allowed to flirt with you, and he's right here. I don't want you around Travis anymore, okay?"

"You can't just tell me who to talk to or not," Lily scolded, trying to hide her smile. He was jealous! She was going to talk to Travis more from now on. This was so entertaining!

Nico scowled at her. He could see her trying not to smile – her lips were twitching periodically as she struggled. "Don't laugh," he said, nettled.

But of course, that pushed her over the edge, and she slumped against his muscled chest, giggling. "But Nico, it was funny! You know I couldn't care less about him and you still –"

"Then why did you react so badly when Drew kissed me that time? I didn't care about her, and you –"

Lily sat up, her eyes narrowed. "That was different," she snarled, interrupting him. "We'd just met, and she's so beautiful! Of course I felt insecure! And it didn't help that later on you had to go and kiss her on purpose! Didn't you ever wonder how I would feel about you making out with her randomly? Especially the second time – you could have chosen anyone, why her? That was so cruel!"

"But that was the point!" Nico blew a puff of air out through his lips, ballooning his cheeks in frustration. "I loved you, but I knew you're better off without me so I did what I could to hurt you the most – that way you would do your best to move on!"

"Yeah, but you totally ignored how I felt about the whole deal," Lily retorted, feeling waves of anger boiling up inside her. But just as she was about to explode, she saw something in his eyes – fleeting, but definitely there. Hurt.

"Do you really still believe that?" she whispered.

"Believe what?" Nico asked tiredly, closing his eyes and tilting his head back against the hard wall of rock.

"That I'd be better off…away from you…"

"Yeah, but you won't listen to me!" He twisted slightly, cupping her chin in his hand and making her look at him. "Look, you need to understand that I am never going to be the flavor of the month here or anywhere else – it'll be better for you if you don't have to be associated with me. And anytime you want to leave, I won't stop you or make it difficult, I will let you go."

Lily stared at him for a moment. "Any other stupid remarks, or are you done now?"

"Uh…" Nico fixed his eyes on the ground, unsure what she was going to say. But what she did surprised him even more.

Swinging her leg over his stretched out, slightly raised knees, Lily deposited herself on his lap, straddling his hips and resting her hands on his shoulders. She grinned into his face, just a few inches below her own.

"Nico," she breathed against his ear, "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not going anywhere?"

"Maybe a couple more," he replied, dropping a light kiss on the side of her neck.

"I'll tell you that for the rest of my life if it'll make you understand that I love you," Lily whispered, kissing the skin behind his ear.

"Lily," Nico ground out as her teeth nipped playfully at his earlobe, "Do you think you could get off now?"

She smirked at him, sliding her arms around his neck. "Is this making you uncomfortable?"

Nico muttered something, staring at the air above her head determinedly.

"So," Lily said, suddenly remembering something, "You know, when Thalia was telling us about Clarisse, you said you were in the middle of this great dream…" She grinned as he blushed. "Want to tell me about it?"

"Well," Nico said, grinning at her, "You asked." Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her flush against his chest, smirking as she let out a little gasp.

"I think I can guess –" she began, before Nico's fingers tangled in her hair and pulled her head down for a blazing kiss.

Lily found herself pressing in on him, trying to feel as much of him as she could. Her knees, she knew, were digging into his sides, but Nico wasn't complaining, just squeezing her thigh lazily with one hand while the other was in her hair.

She had slipped one hand under his shirt, loving the way the muscles in his back rippled under her hand as he moved even slightly, her other hand sliding through the hair she never wanted to take her hand from.

And his mouth – Lily didn't really know what he was doing, but had a feeling that she was going to collapse into a boneless lump any moment. His tongue was swirling around hers…so this was what a lollipop felt like. Maybe she could somehow turn into a piece of candy so he could do this forever…

Nico pulled away, and she felt as though the room were spinning around her as she slumped against him, suddenly recognizing her desperate need for air. For a few moments, Lily took greedy gulps of oxygen before bracing her hands on his strong shoulders and sitting up slightly, still on his lap.

She was searching for something to say when she noticed that his eyes were a little lower than they should have been. Lowering her own, Lily blushed. Her shirt had slipped down slightly, revealing more of her heaving chest than she would have liked. She yanked the shirt back up.

"Eyes up here, Nico," she said, mortified.

"Sorry." Nico stroked her arm with his thumb, his eyes staring at those pretty pink lips that were directly at his eye level. "Got your breath back?"

"Do you have to ask?" She grabbed his face between her hands and lowered her mouth back onto his. Lily bit down on his soft lower lip and was rewarded with his low moan of pleasure. As their tongues danced and necks twisted to maintain the fast-paced, exhilarating kiss, Lily began to slowly grind her hips down into his, goaded on by a terrifying, primal instinct she was loath to acknowledge.

Suddenly she was flat on her back, looking up at the rocky ceiling in confusion.

"How long did you think I could stand that?" Nico dropped himself over her, kissing her again. "You're such a tease, Princess."

Lily was about to respond, but instead a horrifyingly girlish squeal tore past her lips as his teeth began to torture her pulse point, sucking and biting until, with a little pop, he pulled back. She knew that when she looked in the mirror, she would find a purple little mark of his love.

Nico had moved his lips back to hers, and one of his hands was sneaking up the inside of her shirt, tracing idle patterns on her midriff. But he froze when he felt her little hand slide under his own shirt, pausing over his hard, defined abs before continuing its journey upwards. He broke the kiss, letting his head flop into the smooth curve where her neck molded into her shoulder, closing his eyes and wondering what she was doing.

A second warm hand joined the first, and Nico shuddered as a finger brushed over his navel. And then it seemed as if a surge of movement animated her slender arms, and before he had realized what had happened a cool breeze was ghosting over his bare chest, and his shirt was lying on the ground near them, and she was kissing him again, hungrily, her nails dragging down his back as he returned her passion with his own insatiable greed for the taste of her lips.

He lost himself in her for a few more minutes, and then finally, reluctantly, disengaged. Lily gave him a look of pure disappointment that hurt so much he nearly kissed her again, but he had enough self-control not to.

"Sorry," he said, reaching for his shirt, "But that would have gone somewhere you definitely don't want to go. And more than me, you would have to live with the outcome of it." He grinned. "But you are a fantastic kisser."

"You too," she said breathlessly, straightening out her shirt. But when she tried to slide her hands through her hair, Lily winced in pain. "Nico! You tangled up my hair!" As she tilted her head to try and sift through the knots with minimal effort, something else caught her eye – the number of hickeys he had scattered over the past two days on her neck and shoulders. "And four hickeys are too much for anyone! How on earth did you get these three on here?" She pointed to three love bites that were fading but still noticeable. The fourth, the new one, was a vivid purple.

"You're so ticklish you didn't feel them," he laughed, winking at her when she glared. "They look good on you. Relax."

"Okay." Lily crossed her legs, combing her fingers through her hair as he pulled his shirt back on. She quelled a flare of disappointment as her view of his delectable abdomen vanished beneath the black material. "Nico…" she said slowly, as a familiar smell and sound struck her, "Is it raining?"

He ducked down, looking out through the small opening in the rock's face. "Yeah," he said, sounding surprised. "But it rarely rains at Camp…only when Zeus is seriously angry."

"But why?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good for any of us."

**A/N: So there you have it. Chapter 13. Reviews? Please? I'll update that much faster if you do. But I have a camp going on during my weekdays so chapters may take a bit longer. BUT if you review, I may update faster than otherwise. Hint hint hint. **


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hi again! This is my next chapter – I rushed it a little so I could get it out, so if there are problems or it isn't one of my best, I do apologize. Anyway, thank you again to all those of you who reviewed my last chapter! WE CROSSED 400 REVIEWS! 200 more and we'll overtake Ocean Eyes! So I have to say I am COMPLETELY wowed right now. Seriously. I'm floored. So THANK YOU for your time, your patience, and your reviews. Those three things have given me the motivation to keep writing, even through those days when I felt like abandoning this story. But yeah, thank you so much, and enjoy this next chapter! **

**And I am sorry about the long Author's Note, but it had to be said. On with the story. **

Chapter 14

Lily joined him at the tiny entrance, both of them kneeling on the leafy ground. The rain was pouring down now, drumming rhythmically against the wet ground. It smelled heavenly, better than all those fancy Dior perfumes that the Aphrodite cabin smelled of so strongly the scent probably carried for miles.

"I guess we'll have to make a break for it," Nico said, staring outside at the downpour.

"Let's go, then," Lily grinned, and she slipped lithely under the rocks, emerging into the rain and turning. "Come on!" She was smiling widely, throwing her head back and holding her arms outstretched, turning in slow circles. The cool drops of rain felt wonderful against her skin, still heated from Nico's touch and warmth. Lily could feel the water weighing down her hair, sticking it to her neck and shoulders, running in streams down her body.

It was a feeling she'd always loved – the way the rain could bring every inch of your skin to life. A warm hand gripped her wrist, and her eyes snapped open as Nico pulled her along behind him.

"You're going to fall sick!" he shouted over the rain, running towards the cabins with her behind him, still gripping her wrist.

"You're such a killjoy!" Lily bellowed back. But he was still dragging her along, moving so fast that everything around her was a blur. Then again, it was anyway. The rain had turned into a deluge, and the raindrops that had before landed gently on her skin were now pelting her, hurting her. The world was a white sheet of rain, and she could barely make out Nico's tall, skinny but strong figure before her. Her only real anchor was his hand, and she hoped he knew where he was going, because she didn't.

But Nico drew to a stop seconds later, and he reeled her in quickly, wrapping those wiry arms around her. And for a moment everything stopped as her surroundings went dark, a wind stronger than that accompanying the rain whipping her hair and face, howling in her ears.

And then they were in the Poseidon cabin.

"What _happened_ to you two?" Annabeth asked incredulously.

"We got caught in –" Lily broke off, staring. Annabeth and Percy were wrapped around each other on his bunk, their clothes and hair in severe disarray, and her lips slightly swollen.

"You can't yell at me anymore, Percy," Nico smirked, "Or I'll tell Malcolm about this."

"You're so wet!" Lily stared at Nico. His hair was plastered to his head, dripping water down his olive skin, which was pooling slightly in the hollow of his throat and hanging in beads off the cords of his neck. But what really caught her attention was the way his soaked shirt clung to him, emphasizing every hard line and muscle in a way that made her mouth go dry. He looked sinful. Which, being the son of Hades, he was – at least for her. Forbidden but seriously delicious fruit.

Lily giggled.

"What?" Nico rolled his eyes. "You're dripping all over the floor too!"

"Nico, why don't you shadow-travel to your cabin and change and all that, and then you can come back," Percy suggested, blatantly ignoring Nico's earlier comment.

Nico nodded, gave Lily a roguish grin and an almost lazy two-fingered salute, and vanished on the spot.

"Why the laughing?" Annabeth asked at once. When Lily blushed and shook her head, she rolled her eyes. "Fine, don't tell me. Did it have something to do with the way Nico's shirt was sticking to him?"

Lily blushed redder, staring at the floor as Percy groaned.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain. He looked good, and any sane girl would admit it."

"Hey!" Percy sat up straighter, staring worriedly at Annabeth. "I'm right here!"

"Lily, go change, you'll fall sick," Annabeth ordered. As Lily grabbed some dry clothes and headed for the bathroom, a glance over her shoulder showed her the entwined forms of her brother and his girlfriend. Could they spend ten minutes in the same room without kissing? Apparently not.

She took a short but hot shower, dressing in pajama shorts and a huge tie-dyed shirt she'd found in Nico's closet and taken when he admitted to hating it, and taking her towel out into the cabin with her. Annabeth and Percy had managed to separate, and were sitting facing each other on the rug, in front of the fireplace.

"It's still raining like hell," Percy said, giving his sister a smile as she plopped into a teal, wonderfully squishy pouf. It had just appeared one day as she'd been thinking about how much she'd like one, and she'd mumbled a quick thank-you to her otherwise absentee father for it.

"Yeah, it's been like that for a while," Lily replied, bending her neck to the left and rubbing her hair with the towel.

"Speaking of which, where were you and Nico? You guys looked like you'd been under a waterfall or something," Percy said, eyeing her curiously.

"Zeus's Fist," she answered, dropping the damp towel across her knees so she could pick apart tangles in her damp tresses.

"Hi guys," Nico said, as a pool of shadows drew together and vanished as he appeared. Taking a few quick steps, he dropped to the ground, leaning back against Lily's legs and resting one hand on a knee, the other on her bare foot.

"Hi Nico," Lily smiled, tossing the towel neatly into a small hamper hanging against the open bathroom door. Leaning over, she kissed his cheek.

"Your hair isn't dry yet." Nico wiped away a few beads of moisture her damp hair had left on his face, grinning at her as he ran a finger over her calf. Percy cleared his throat, and he rolled his eyes, leaning back so his head was pillowed by her knees.

"Lily, have you talked to Jessie recently?" Annabeth asked, crawling over to Percy and curling up by his side.

"No," Lily said quietly, her forehead creasing. "Have you?"

"No, but Will came over to talk to me about her. Said she tossed her favorite guitar out the window today. He wants to know what we're going to do about finding Leo before she does something drastic. And frankly, he considers throwing her guitar out the window to be pretty drastic, and he's worried."

"Has anyone else been having dreams?" Percy asked, looking around.

"Here," Nico said, raising a hand.

"Me too," Annabeth said, looking anxious. "They've all been similar. First it was an eagle fighting a vulture, with a dove trying to help the vulture, which was pretty obvious. But last night it changed into the eagle dive-bombing Cerberus, and there was a white horse running up from behind." She sighed. "The symbols are all really obvious, but it's scary to think about it."

"Could you translate?" Lily asked, flopping backwards into her soft pouf. More happy news.

"So Ares and Zeus aren't getting along, and Aphrodite seems to be siding with Ares – very ineffectually. And then Zeus and Hades are fighting too, and Poseidon seems to be on the brink of involvement, but not yet. The issue is that Zeus is fighting with Ares – they normally get along just fine. And Aphrodite never gets in the middle of disputes; she's usually too busy with her mascara. Something is going on."

"Well, maybe that explains the rain," Lily said, glancing at the drapes drawn over the windows. They could hear the storm raging outside.

"I've been seeing Leo a lot," Nico mused, shifting his head to a better position on Lily's legs and fighting a smile as she made a soft sound, undoubtedly a reaction to his hair tickling the bare skin on her knees. "He's always chained, beat up, and in the dark. I don't know where, but it feels kind of familiar."

Percy frowned. Anywhere familiar for Nico was probably not a good place for anyone else. "Any gut feelings?"

"I don't think I've ever been there, if that counts," Nico answered, playing with the frayed edge of his jeans. "But it feels…old. Familiar. You know?"

"Old is probably not good," Percy said, staring into the fire.

"Annabeth?" Lily said cautiously. "Are you okay?"

The Athena girl raised her head, which had been lowered in thought. "Yes. I'm okay. Just thinking."

"You could think out loud," Lily suggested. "You've probably got the best ideas out of all of us."

"You don't want to hear this. I can promise you that. If we get any indication that I'm right, I will definitely tell you, but right now…I just want to pray that I'm wrong." The fire glinted off her blonde curls as she shifted slightly, gazing pensively into the flames. "Nico," She said, suddenly sitting up, "Have you ever seen Chris? In your dreams, I mean?"

Nico shrugged. "I see a lot of people. Usually in flashes. I don't even know what he looks like, so I can't tell you. Maybe you could show me a picture, but I may not even remember. My dreams are…convoluted."

Lily bent forward, curious. "Convoluted as in?"

"I see flashes," Nico explained, his dark eyes unreadable. Not that she could see them from her position. "So I'll get flashes of people, of events, of things that have happened, that will happen, some that never do. It's rare for me that one sequence continues beyond three-ish minutes long. I jump around a lot. Sometimes I see gods. It gets damn near impossible to remember when I wake up, though. I just remember glimpses."

"Annabeth, do you want to tell us where you think he is?" Lily was frustrated with Annabeth's refusal; she couldn't help it. Her best friend was miserable and Annabeth wasn't about to help!

"No," Annabeth said firmly. "I'm sorry, I know you'll be irritated, but no. It's better if I don't panic everyone now."

Lily sat forward, burying her head in Nico's neck. His shoulders felt strong, smelled nice. She could feel his warmth through his shirt.

This was what Jessie was missing. And Lily couldn't even imagine what it felt like.

Jessie was on the roof. She wasn't too sure how she had managed to climb up onto the top of the Forge, but she perched there now, feeling like a bird with its wings hacked off. The rain was pouring down her hair, making her thin tank top and her denim shorts conform even more tightly to her body, the little rivulets of water running down her legs and bare feet. But it was nice to know someone else was in pain, that this rain was the product of fear, sadness, hurt. If she tried, she could imagine that it was her agony raining down onto her.

The tiles on the roof were cutting into her legs, but Jessie stretched out flat on her back, ignoring the twinges. From the way Lily and Annabeth looked at her, sympathetically, as if they knew something they didn't and were glad it was happening to her, not them – it was a natural feeling, she didn't grudge them that – Jessie knew enough to be terrified. Leo was in serious trouble. Maybe even dead.

No, not dead. She would know! She had no right to survive if he didn't. Their first kiss had sealed that, even if they hadn't known at the time that they were making a pact more sacred than the air they breathed.

But for a moment the hurt was too much, and her head dropped onto the sharp edges of the roof tiles as she gave way to it, wishing she could shadow-travel like Nico. She would visit every inch of the planet until she found Leo.

Her thoughts, when they returned, drifted until Jessie felt her blood begin to boil. The warning sign of a very angry train of thoughts. And she surrendered to her rage as it came.

No one was going to do anything about Leo's disappearance, she realized that now. Lily and Isabelle had offered her a shoulder to cry on, hugs, soothing but empty words, and then left her alone when she had rebuffed their efforts. Which was okay, really, it was what she wanted. To wallow in her misery.

But she hadn't kept herself holed up in her room. She was a child of Apollo, not some weak Aphrodite demigod who would sob herself into a rut. Well, maybe she was doing that too. But Jessie had been moving around, sneaking through shadows, eavesdropping, spying, doing whatever she could to put together the pieces.

And she had seen Lily and Isabelle with their boyfriends, hugging, kissing, just being together. The sight had brought home just how much she was missing, and it had been driving her practically insane.

Jessie had also heard a couple things she shouldn't have, just by discreetly following Lily around. Clarisse had taken Leo, and Chris was gone too. And Chris had said he was going to LA. Apparently that hadn't started alarm bells ringing in anyone else's heads, but it had in hers. LA was the entrance to the Underworld.

Sitting up, Jessie crawled to the chimney, leaning her tired back against it and wiping her sodden hair from her eyes. Her first instinct had been to catch a plane or something and go straight to LA – but for that she would have to buy a plane ticket. And there was something else.

It didn't really make sense to her that Clarisse would tell Travis that Chris had gone to LA. Jessie didn't believe that Clarisse herself was involved, it was far more likely she was being blackmailed with her boyfriend's safety, but that made her wonder why no one had tried threatening her yet. The specter of Leo's death rose again in her mind, but she squashed it mercilessly. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

Back to LA. It was too obvious, really. It was more likely that whoever had actually coordinate the kidnapping was trying to cover his tracks and blame someone else. Hades.

Because she was pretty sure that Hades was smarter than to actually give away the location of anyone he had anonymously taken. If there was a reason that the other gods feared him it was, in Jessie's opinion, his intelligence and domain. Someone smart with power over life and death had to be terrifying.

So if Leo wasn't in LA, then where was he? She was turning over random cities in her head when her body was racked with a violent sneeze, and it hit her. San Francisco! It was close enough to LA that if anyone had been suspicious, they could have easily gone to LA first and then moved him.

Jessie pulled her red hair to one side, combing her fingers through it while tilting her head back slightly, giving the pelting rain full access to her face. San Francisco. That Titan mountain had been there…Mount Tamalpais! Of course. She had heard rumors that it had crumbled, but an entire mountain wouldn't just collapse away. More likely parts of it had, where the Titans had based themselves.

And if it had been, or still was, a Titan stronghold, they were all in a whole lot of trouble. But frankly, Jessie found that she couldn't care less. They had taken her boyfriend and she was going to get him back, or there would be hell to pay. There probably would be anyway.

Her life without him was such an empty hole, she found herself wondering how she had managed before she'd met him. The pictures on the wall behind her bed were a pathetic substitute for the real boy, and she found herself unable to play guitar or sing because it reminded her of the times she had done it for him.

On top of all that, the attention she was getting from other guys was making her sick. Jessie knew she was pretty – but then again, most girls were. But her flaming hair and midnight blue eyes were an unusual combination, and she was voluptuous whereas Lily, for instance, was more skinny. Jessie had curves – not too large, after all she did have an athletic physique – in all the right spots, and was skinny where she needed to be. Lily attracted males based on her delicate features and her appeal as a daughter of Poseidon. Jessie didn't really care, it didn't matter to her how her body compared to her best friend's, but she was aware of it.

It drove her crazy how other boys would wink or stare at her as she passed, as if they couldn't see that Leo's absence had stolen her way to even breathe. She wanted Leo there with her, to laugh and joke around, to make her not even notice these things. But he wasn't, and she couldn't. And it was time to change that.

Carefully, as the rain had slicked the roof so that she could easily fall over, Jessie repositioned herself into a crouch and worked her way down the roof. A few times she slipped and slid down a few inches, earning herself cuts on her thighs, one on her waist, and a painful gash on her wrist when she tried to stop one of her falls.

She was at the edge of the roof, but had no idea how to get down. The worst part was that she couldn't remember how she had gotten up. Steeling herself, Jessie put her feet on a steel brazier holding a torch of Greek fire that was thankfully angled away from her, and dropped her body so that her hands grabbed the other brazier, on the other side of the door to the Forge. Swinging a few times, she bent her knees and dropped, catlike, onto the few feet of steel that formed a small entryway outside the Forge.

Pushing open the door, Jessie stepped inside. Her gray Converse were waiting by the dying embers of what had once been a fire, along with a pair of white ankle socks. Slipping on both, she deftly tied her shoes and stood again, wondering what to do next.

She would probably have to change, and then figure out a way to get herself to San Francisco before attracting too much suspicion. Will had been keeping an eye – often two – on her lately, and while his brotherly concern was sweet, she needed him to be less vigilant if she were to pull this off.

Jessie was still dripping water everywhere, and she was heading towards the door when the sound of a throat clearing stopped her. She could have sworn that she was alone.

"Hey there," Apollo grinned, stepping up next to her.

"Dad?" Jessie blinked. This was…unexpected.

But Apollo was still smiling his million-dollar smile, looking perfectly at ease with himself and the world. He was tossing a key in his hand. "I parked outside," he said, motioning to a red Maserati Spyder convertible that she could vaguely recognize through the window and rain. "Hope the rain doesn't ruin it."

"Dad, what –"

"You didn't think Aphrodite was the only one who kept track of you demigods, did you?" Apollo shrugged. "Well, she follows couples she likes, and I keep track of my own children. And I was worrying about you a bit, and she came to bother me about how…poignant, I think she said your heartbreak was, and how I shouldn't do anything to change it. Like she can order me around!" For a second anger flashed in his easygoing face, and then it vanished.

He produced a small orange drawstring bag, turning it pink before handing it to her. "Everything you need is in there. Thank me later."

"Thank you," Jessie grinned, taking the hint, "But Dad, why are you –"

"Because Hephaestus is moping over Aphrodite's latest date with Ares, Zeus is mad at everyone, Aphrodite is trying to boss me around and I don't want to see my most powerful daughter so sad, okay?"

Jessie smiled, and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. It felt so nice when her father's arms enveloped her – as if nothing could hurt her. "Thank you. So much!" She hadn't opened the bag yet, bug she could guess what was in it. Her dad, however nice and boyish and handsome he may seem, was anything but stupid.

"Anytime," he grinned. "I have to go, but I'll see you around. Be good!" Apollo appeared to be in thought, and Jessie rushed to distract him.

"Okay, Dad! I'll see you later – I have to go." She waved the bag at him. "Thank you so much!" And she ran back out into the rain, laughing as she considered her latest save. No bad poetry today!

Jessie sneaked back into her own cabin, smiling when she saw her siblings asleep – some in beds, but others were draped over guitars, amps, drums, and even a keyboard. Will was passed out facing her bunk – theirs were both on top – and she realized he had been waiting for her to put in an appearance. A twinge of guilt hit her before she rallied herself.

Grabbing a pink backpack, she tossed in a change of clothes, a collapsible and personalized bow and quiver Leo had built specially for her, and a couple other things before changing into dry clothes in the bathroom. Drying her hair with the hairdryer would be too risky, so she rubbed a towel through it until it was only a little damp.

Once she stepped outside, Jessie moved to stand under the overhanging roof, opening the bag her father had given her. She squealed in excitement before clapping a hand over her mouth. He hadn't disappointed. Lying in her hand was a plane ticket to San Francisco and a small wallet, with a note attached telling her, in an almost illegible scrawl, that it would refill itself continuously.

Jessie allowed herself a victory pirouette, grinning widely. She loved her dad! Putting the ticket and wallet back in her bag, she double checked that she had her passport and everything else before pulling a jacket that she had borrowed from Leo and forgotten to return from her backpack and putting it on. She hadn't wanted to wear it inside the cabin because the rustling would probably wake her siblings, but now it was alright. There was no one to hear it.

Tossing the hood over her damp red hair, Jessie shouldered her backpack and walked into the rain. The jacket had an indescribable smell that she knew was Leo. She smiled, feeling like Jason Bourne as she walked through the rain.

She was dangerous. She was on a mission. She was coming.

**A/N: REVIEWS PLEASE! I know it was a little angsty, or angstier than I usually write – I think – but tell me what you think – issues, questions, comments, concerns, anything. I would LOVE to hear from you. I even take anonymous reviews. So please take a few seconds to drop one off. The box is right below this. Thank you everyone! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Here I am again! I'm sorry if some of you got annoyed with the wait, but I've had writer's block. So if this chapter is boring, that's the reason. But I tried to keep it about the normal length, at least by number of pages, and I hope it's at least somewhat interesting/enjoyable. And thank you sooo sooo much for all the reviews for my last chapter! I can't thank you enough. But thank you anyway. And also a thank you to everyone who subscribed and favorited. Enjoy the next chapter!**

Chapter 15

Lily woke up the next morning, feeling strange. She couldn't place it, but as soon as she sat up her stomach did some sort of cartwheel inside her, and she ran for the bathroom. She hated being sick. After rinsing her mouth, she stood, walking unsteadily back to her bed and sitting down hard.

Her head was swimming, and Lily dropped her forehead into her hands as she waited for the dizziness and nausea to pass. What was going on?

"Lily?" The bedsprings creaked softly as Percy sat down next to her, pushing a glass of water into her hands. "Drink it."

She obeyed, and felt her head clear enough for her to look at her brother. "Thanks."

"Why were you –" Percy broke off as she ran for the bathroom again, feeling the nausea rise up within her.

"Sorry," Lily mumbled on returning, feeling weak and shivery.

"Lily," Percy said cautiously, his tone making her raise her spinning head and look at him, "You don't think you're…you know…pregnant?" He practically whispered the question.

Lily managed a sort of spluttering sound, staring at him. "No!" she shrieked suddenly, making Percy jump. "No, of course not! Nico and I haven't – how could you even think –"

"It's just…all the throwing up," Percy said, inching away from his little sister as her expression was morphing from shocked to murderous. "But if you guys haven't – you know – that's great! I mean –"

"Shut up, Percy," Lily said with a weak laugh. "Just…that's not something you need to worry about, okay?"

"Okay," he said, relieved that she wasn't angry anymore. "Do you want me to get Chiron? You still look pretty sick."

"Not Chiron," Lily said, sneezing, "Get Jessie. She'll know what it is." Raising the sheets, she burrowed under the covers, savoring the warmth.

"Don't move," Percy said, patting her shoulder lightly. He had almost made it to the door when it burst open.

Will stood in the doorway, in a pair of gray sleep pants and a t-shirt with guitars all over it, his eyes wild and his hair in total disarray. "Where is she?" he shouted, glaring around. "What did you do to her?"

"Who?" Lily asked, sitting up, conscious of Percy tensing in preparation for trouble.

"Jessie!"

"What do you mean? Where is she?" Lily sprang out of bed but stumbled, catching the bedpost for support.

"I'm asking you that!"

"How should I know?" she snapped. Then comprehension dawned over her, and she felt her breath catch. "She's gone?"

"Yes she's gone!" Will roared, making her jump.

"Did she go somewhere alone?" Percy asked, frowning.

Will deflated slightly. "You don't know? Either of you?"

"What happened, Will?" Lily asked again, gently. She could feel herself beginning to panic but was trying to hide it, mainly to keep Will from blowing up again.

"She's just left," he croaked out, sitting down on a bunk Percy pointed him to. "Packed some stuff in her favorite backpack, took her weapons, and left. I have no idea where she's gone – there's no note or anything. But she isn't here." He raised his head, the anger seeping back into his otherwise smiling face. "I told you to do something about Leo!" he roared. "Now you didn't, and look what's happened!"

"Calm down," Percy soothed. "We'll find her, don't worry."

Will scoffed at him. "That's great to say now, but what if it was Lily who'd run off, looking for her boyfriend Nico, who'd been taken? You wouldn't tell yourself that you'd find her or him, you'd be out there looking and tearing off the head of anyone dumb enough to get in your way."

"I bet she's gone to find Leo," Lily said, her voice hollow. Her best friend was gone. If Jessie died, she didn't know what she would do. And it was already tearing her apart. "She probably knows something we don't."

"She does," Will confirmed, cracking his knuckles. Lily winced. It was a disgusting habit – Nico did it too sometimes and she couldn't stand it. "I talked to the Hunters, and the one who was on night duty yesterday said that a very fancy sports car pulled up outside the Forge last night. She said the car glowed so brightly she could see it – it was red – but the rain obscured everything else." When the children of Poseidon just looked confused, Will sighed. "It was Apollo. Red sports car, anyone? Glowing?"

"So he told her where to go," Lily breathed. "But she should have told the rest of us!" she shrieked suddenly, tightening her precarious hold on the bedpost. "We would have gone with her – we could have helped her!"

"Why the hell would she ask you people for help?" Will snarled. "She did for so long – she wanted help to find Leo, ideas, anything! And apparently even if you or Annabeth or Percy did figure it out, you guys didn't share! I don't even know if she thinks she can trust you to help her!"

"Of course we would!" Lily exclaimed, stung. "It's just that none of us even had an idea of where he might be, except…"

"Except who?" Will hissed.

"No one," Percy said testily. "Will, just back off, okay?"

"Annabeth, wasn't it?" Will grinned, which looked more like a grimace on his pained face. He stood up. "Good for you, Percy. Sticking up for the people you love. Glad to see it isn't an alien concept to you."

And he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Lily stomped over to Percy. "You are going to go find Annabeth right now, figure out where she thinks Leo is, and we are going there right now!"

Percy stood, towering over her. Lily cursed her unfortunate lack of height.

"You are going back to bed," he ordered. "And _maybe_ I will get Leo's location from Annabeth. But even if I do, you aren't coming. You're too sick to go anywhere, and it'll probably be dangerous. You aren't experienced enough in any case. And if Annabeth doesn't tell me, then she doesn't. She always has a reason, and it's always a good one. Just go back to sleep, okay?"

Lily had every intention of walking out the door the moment he left, but two things stopped her: the fact that she was still in the shorts and tie-dyed shirt of Nico's she'd slept in, and the dizziness that was threatening to cripple her.

She sank onto the mattress, closing her eyes and dropping her neck forward, waiting for the dizziness to vanish. When it did, she stood again and went into the bathroom, opening the cabinet and searching for the little bottle of Advil.

"You too?"

In the mirror, she saw Nico leaning against the doorway to the bathroom, smiling tiredly at her. Lily knew that she was a total mess, with her hair in total disarray, her clothes rumpled, her face pale and shadows until her eyes, but Nico looked just as awful, if not worse. He looked ready to collapse.

"Nico!" Grabbing the little bottle of pills in one hand, she wrapped her other as far around his bicep as it would go. "You look like you're going to pass out – you need to lie down. Come on."

He took a few steps forward, but when he began to waver Lily put his arm around her shoulders, letting him lean on her. They limped forward a few more steps, when Nico's legs failed him and he collapsed onto Lily, mumbling an apology through the dense fog clouding and stifling his senses.

Lily cursed mentally, looking around. They were only a few steps away from her bunk, which was the closest – the one she had been aiming for was a few more steps away, but she didn't think she could practically carry Nico there. Putting her arms around his chest, she dragged him, half-standing, towards it. She could tell he was trying to recover, to open his eyes and walk along with her, but he was in even worse shape than she was.

She shoved him onto the bed, and made him take an Advil – which he swallowed without water – before letting him fall asleep. Or pass out. She couldn't tell.

Pouring herself a glass of water, she gulped down a small round pill, hoping it would take effect quickly. Stumbling over to Percy's bunk, opposite hers, she flopped down and pulled the sheets up over her head, cursing Zeus over and over in her head. He probably made them sick on purpose. Could he stick bacteria or something in the rain to make them sick? She wouldn't put it past him.

Lily spent a few more minutes focusing on thinking of rude names for Zeus, but somewhere around "Cirrus-Eyebrows" she started to really run out of steam. Her eyelids grew heavy and she gave into the urge to sleep, letting the pillow cup her cheek softly.

Over in the Apollo cabin, Isabelle was climbing up the ladder to Jessie's bunk, Annabeth right behind her. "Maybe she dropped something," Isabelle was muttering, rifling through the numerous pages of sheet music and song lyrics Jessie had left strewn over her bed.

"This isn't a spy movie," Annabeth said, unable to mask her irritation. "She's probably left nothing behind – she isn't stupid. This is a waste of time."

"How is it a waste of time? My friend is _missing_ – the least you can do is help me see if we can find something to help us find her!"

"Annabeth?" Percy was standing at the bottom of the ladder. "Can you come down for a second?"

"Yeah." She climbed down quickly, leading him out of the cabin. "What is it?"

"You know you said you had an idea where Leo is? Can you –"

Grabbing his arm, Annabeth pulled Percy away from the rectangle of cabins, walking towards the lake. The wide open spaces would ensure that they would be able to see anyone trying to eavesdrop.

"I think he's in the Underworld," she said without preamble. "It's the best explanation. I think Clarisse was trying to drop a hint about where he is. And I think that's what Nico's hiding."

"Nico? What does he –"

"Don't pretend you haven't noticed he's hiding something," Annabeth snapped. She sighed. "Look, Percy, I know you guys are really good friends and all that, but you must have noticed." When Percy nodded, she continued. "Maybe it isn't intentional and his father is forcing him to conceal it, but I'm pretty sure Hades has a hand in this. And Nico did say the place seemed familiar and old – the Underworld fits!"

"Annabeth," Percy said quietly, rubbing his face, "Think about it. Why would Hades sit around kidnapping demigods? He has enough to do without that too. And kidnapping doesn't really strike me as his style."

"He took your mother," she reminded him, her hands on her hips. "And it is his style. He uses hostages, works in the dark, lies and terrifies those he wants to! It's who he is! And believe it or not, Nico is his son. He is _bound_ to be like his father! I'm not saying he's a bad person, he seems all right, but right now I don't want to take chances."

Percy sighed.

"And as for why…maybe he wants information," Annabeth suggested. "I mean, they took Leo, who hangs around us and knows as much as we do. Chris, maybe because he's always around Clarisse and the daughter of the War God is going to have her ear to the ground. Or –"

"Listen, Annabeth," Percy interrupted, trying to keep his tone cool and easy, "I don't think that makes much sense. If he wanted information, he wouldn't have taken Leo. He would have gone for you. Hades is intelligent enough to know that, and quite possibly to carry it through – but he didn't. And about Nico, about what he's hiding…he tried to drop a hint a while earlier about who could be behind this. Something about who would enjoy violence. I –"

"You forgot Rachel," Annabeth said icily. "She's gone too, and she's the Oracle! We're crippled without her – and she'll be a huge asset to whoever's got her, especially in her trances. And Hades enjoys violence plenty, he's the Lord of the Dead!" She frowned at him, her gray eyes cold. "Percy, I'm sorry, but I think you're just trying to make excuses for Nico because he's one of your best friends now."

"And you're prejudiced because he's a son of Hades! If he was a child of Apollo we would not be having this conversation!"

"But he isn't! You're just refusing to see that he could easily become a threat to everyone here! If he loses his temper once, we're all going to be dead meat! Your sister is probably the only one who can say whatever she likes to him, but I think even she keeps in mind the fact that he could kill her, or anyone else, as easily as he blinks!"

"You're scared of him."

"And you should be!"

"You sound like Thalia. But even she's decided to trust him, and now you don't! Why?"

"Because I'm reading the signs," Annabeth practically shouted at him. "I'm not blind and neither are you, why won't you see?"

Percy was breathing deeply through his nose, wishing, at that moment, that his father wasn't Poseidon. The Sea God and his children were known for being moody and emotional – probably why Lily was a wreck for so long when Nico had been gone. But he couldn't afford to lose his temper now. "What do you think we should do? Go and confront Nico?"

"No," she replied, pinching the bridge of her nose and solving calculus problems in her head to keep calm, "We should try to figure out what's going on. Ask Lily if she knows anything – if Nico is hiding something, it's possible…" she trailed off. "She does know. She was with him in the Underworld, if he was dropping a hint about who's behind this that means he knows, and she does too!"

"Yeah, she does!" Percy was frowning, searching his memory. "When he collapsed, she started shouting something about how he shouldn't have done anything and that he knew the risks." He stared at Annabeth, worried. "Do you think they…made an agreement?"

"On the Styx," Annabeth breathed. "Of course! That makes sense!" She was pacing now, moving back and forth in front of him. "So Hades kidnaps Rachel for information, Leo and Chris for reasons hitherto unknown, Nico and Lily discover what's going on and he forces them to agree to – wait! Nico was hurt down there, right? Maybe he did it on purpose, keeping him alive but hurt badly enough that Lily would agree to anything to save him, and that was the condition!"

"We need a motive for Hades, though," Percy mused. What she was saying made sense – and, if he needed any more convincing, she was Annabeth. She was usually right.

"Bigger domain?"

"No, he's been complaining of traffic problems for years."

"Hatred of Zeus?"

"Maybe."

"Jealousy?"

"What?"

Annabeth smirked. "Rumor has it that Persephone and Zeus have been spending a lot of time together…private audiences, you could say. Hades and Persephone have a love-hate sort of relationship at best, I don't think they ever really worked it out, and he can't be an easy guy to be a wife and lover to."

"How the hell did you find out?"

"Dreams."

Percy exhaled. "Well…"

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I think we should talk to Travis," Percy said. "Maybe he can tell us more about Chris and Clarisse – if we ask more questions."

"Okay, but without letting on how much we know." As Percy turned to head back towards the cabins, Annabeth grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Seaweed Brain."

He grinned at her, tightening his fingers around hers. "It's cool."

They meandered up to the Hermes cabin, but found it empty except for Connor.

"Hi Connor," Annabeth called out, stepping inside with her boyfriend behind her. "Is Travis around somewhere? We need to talk to him."

Connor shrugged. "He's busy right now, but I can tell him to come find you two later."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "What's he doing?"

Turning to face them fully, Connor glared – a surprising move for him. "It's none of your business, okay? I told you, I'll tell him to come to you when he gets back. Till then, just back off, alright?"

"But you probably know what he's doing, right?" Annabeth prodded, trying to sound persuasive and not nosy. "Then you could tell us where to find him – it's urgent."

Connor stepped closing, looming over her. He was even taller than Percy, and was using his height to intimidate the two. Although it probably wasn't working, considering how many more dangerous things they'd faced. "It is absolutely no matter to you what my brother is doing," he growled. "We don't poke into your private lives, don't do it to other people." He pointed. "The door is that way."

Percy took Annabeth's arm and led her out the door. When they were a safe distance away, he turned to her. "He's never that rude – or that angry."

She nodded, looking concerned. "Do you think he's involved in…whatever it is that's going on?"

"Could be," Percy said. "Then again, everyone here could be." Squinting against the sun, he watched the figures at the basketball courts – the children of Ares against the Hunters. The match looked more aggressive than friendly. "We aren't getting along anymore."

"Why is it," Annabeth asked tiredly, "That whenever we need to come together to fight someone or something, no one wants to cooperate?"

"Because whoever's trying to create problems knows that unity is the one weapon we have," Percy answered. "They're tearing us apart. But how?"

"We're doing it to ourselves," she whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Like how Connor got mad at us just now when we weren't even trying to be rude. But we were, and he had every right to get angry. But we had every right to ask – we do need Travis's help. It's how Jessie ran off without telling her best friend. How I don't really trust Nico anymore. We all have a good reason for what we're doing, but what we're doing involves not trusting other people."

Miles away, Jessie was sitting in the window seat of her plane aisle, looking out over the city landscape as the plane rose up into the sky. How all her weapons had passed safely through airport security she didn't know, but the fact that they were celestial bronze – harmless where mortals were considered – probably had something to do with it. That and the Mist.

Yawning, she leaned back into the seat, pulling her backpack onto her lap and searching through it. Pulling out a small pink iPod shuffle, she stuck in a pair of headphones and turned the music on. Hopefully it would drown out the thoughts of Leo. She couldn't afford to lose her head now, especially when she had no idea what she would find when she reached San Francisco.

At the airport, she had bought herself a map of the San Francisco Bay Area and was looking at it now, trying to plot a route to Mount Tam. If she couldn't figure it out she would simply ask for directions and see where it got her. Maybe a taxi.

Jessie's mind drifted again, to Isabelle and Lily. They would both be worried, when they found out she was gone. And Will. Poor guy. But he would understand – maybe more than they would. Right now, she felt as if she could trust him to let her trust herself more than her friends.

Lily would just tell her to hold on, that as soon as they found any information about Leo they would go to find him. And Isabelle would agree. But they knew nothing. And that didn't look like it was about to change.

It was simply that they didn't really care, Jessie thought. If Nico had been taken Lily would have whipped out her sword and threatened everyone until they helped her find him – until they organized search parties and anything and everything else. And she would have cried a lot, which was something no brother could stand. Lily, Jessie reflected, had amazing tear ducts; maybe being the daughter of the Sea God had something to do with it. But whereas Percy was powerful enough among the demigods and as a demigod to do something about it, to order others about, Will couldn't really help, no matter how much he tried.

Feeling her eyes begin to sting, Jessie cranked up the volume, focusing on immersing herself in the beat and melody. A couple more hours, and then the games would begin. And she wasn't playing to lose.

**A/N: So, hope you all liked that – at least to some degree! Please leave me a review in the box below – it'll only take a minute, and I really really want to know what you all think! Thank you! **

**Cockapoo xxx**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Soooo…here is the next chapter. Longer note at the bottom, please read that when you finish this. ****HarryPPercyJandMe – I can't reply to you right now because you've disabled the PM feature. Just wanted to let you know. **

Chapter 16

Lily rolled over, opening her sleepy eyes and yawning. A glance at the clock told her she'd slept away most of the afternoon. The cabin was empty, except for Nico's still form tangled in the sheets in her bunk. Standing up, she left Percy's and drank a glass of water, feeling her forehead with the back of her hand.

She was feeling much better. The dizziness had vanished and her forehead felt only slightly warmer than usual. The Advil had probably kicked in. Grabbing some clothes, Lily changed into gray sweatpants and a long-sleeved black shirt with a scoop neck that she loved. Feeling much more comfortable, she splashed some water on her face and put her hair up in a high, tight ponytail, wanting it off her neck.

Going back into the cabin, she knelt beside her bed and retrieved a large Kit Kat bar from the sizeable stash of chocolate she had stored in a woven basket beneath the bunk. Peeling back the wrapper, she leaned against the baseboard of the bed and nibbled at the chocolate, savoring the sweetness.

"Lily?" Nico's voice was deep with drowsiness, and goosebumps erupted over her skin as it washed over her. "What time is it?"

"It's five-thirty," she answered, tilting her head and smiling at him. "How do you feel?"

"Like total crap," he muttered, "But better than usual. You think Enyalius is messing with us?"

"I thought it was Zeus," Lily said, raising herself onto her knees and feeling his forehead. "Nico, you're burning up!" His skin was hot against her relatively cool hand.

She hurried across the room, opening the bathroom cabinet and pulling out a strip of white cloth. Filling a bowl with water, she dunked the cloth in it as she returned to her boyfriend, laying the material over his forehead.

"Feels good," he breathed, closing his eyes.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep?" Lily asked him, moving the half-eaten chocolate bar away from her with a finger so that she could adjust her kneeling position on the floor.

But Nico raised his head instead. "Is that chocolate?"

"Nico…"

"Come on," he grinned. "I'm not that sick – it's these stupid sheets making me hot. That, and I'm pretty tired. But I'm okay. You got any ambrosia in here?" He caught the plastic bag full of squares she tossed him, taking one and nearly swallowing it whole. "Better. Now, chocolate." Nico held out his hand expectantly.

Rolling her eyes, Lily gave him the Kit Kat. "I ate half of it," she warned. "And you had better not be sick."

"Sons of Hades never get sick," Nico scoffed, chewing on the chocolate. "And I don't care if you ate half of it." He winked. "Makes it sweeter."

"Shut up," she laughed, closing her eyes as one of his hands began to drag through her ponytail, putting a delicious pressure on the strands of hair.

He got off the bed and settled himself next to her, putting his arm around her waist and tracing circles on her leg. "What are we going to do?"

"You tell me. I have no idea." Lily slumped against his chest.

"Send Percy down into the Underworld to see for himself?"

"He won't go. Not with everything such a mess here." She turned to face him. "Nico, where do you think Jessie's headed?"

Nico shook his head, opened his mouth, and then sneezed so hard his head banged against the wood of the bunk behind him. "Ow."

"You liar! You are sick!"

Grinning, Nico shrugged. "Anything for chocolate."

"I think you should go back to your cabin," Lily said, brushing back his hair so she could feel his forehead with the back of her hand. "Don't you heal faster in there or something?"

He sighed. "Yeah." A glint crept into his dark eyes. "Come with me."

"Nico –"

"Or I'm not going."

"Such a blackmailer," she groaned, standing up.

"Blame my dad," Nico suggested, following suit. "Where _are _you going?"

Lily looked back. "To the door…you were going to your cabin, remember?"

"Why walk when you can shadow-travel?" Ignoring her protests at the mention of whirling through cold darkness again, Nico pulled Lily close and they both melted into the vortex, emerging seconds later in his cabin.

"I hate that," Lily pouted, trying and failing to pull out of his arms. She rolled her eyes when Nico bent and kissed her, attempting to wriggle away for a few more moments before giving in.

When his hand dragged through her hair, Lily discovered that he had discovered a new way to tilt her head back and get her to unconsciously part her lips. But the way he invaded her mouth was so beautiful that she couldn't find it in her to deny him. Nico never failed to be gentle, even when he was passionate, and it was something Lily loved about him. Although he did have one hell of a temper, but being his girlfriend had perks – that temper was rarely directed at her.

"Stop it," Lily mumbled, disengaging and drawing back a few minutes later. "You're sick. You need to sleep."

"Come on," Nico groaned, dipping his head like a bird every few seconds in futile attempts to catch her lips again. "I know you don't want me to stop."

"Why?" she asked, cursing how breathless she sounded.

"Because I'm the best," he smirked.

"You know," Lily said, laying her hands on his chest and toying with his black t-shirt, "I can never tell who I'm kissing." When he raised his eyebrows, she smirked back at him. "You, or your huge gigantic overinflated male ego."

"We're one and the same," he whispered, resting his forehead on hers. "But it's not _that_ big."

"You have no idea."

"Well it's attractive anyway. Face it."

"I'm telling you," Lily laughed, closing the last inch between them so that she was pressed up against his hard, muscled body, but still not letting him kiss her, "It's overinflated."

"Shut up, you little tease," he growled as her lips began to tease the hollow of his neck. Cupping her face in his hands, he gently forced her head up until she was looking at him, those aquamarine eyes darkening as they met his.

This time, when Nico kissed her, Lily found herself willingly opening her mouth to him, letting him plunder it the way only he could. And even if anyone else could, she wasn't ready to even consider the possibility of finding out. This was perfection personified.

"See?" Nico mumbled against her mouth. "I told you I'm the best."

Lily moaned, burying her face in his warm neck. "Did I say that out loud?"

"It's okay," Nico chuckled, his chest vibrating against her as he did. "You're allowed to think your boyfriend is perfect. And guess what? I am."

Smacking a palm against his chest, Lily mock-glared at him. "Get in bed."

He wiggled his eyebrows at her, but she beat him to it.

"Shut up. And no, I am _not_ coming or staying." She ducked out of his grip, and dashed to the door, sliding her fingers around the doorknob. "You had better stay here, or I'm getting Percy."

"Like I'm scared of your brother." Nico rolled his eyes. "He'll probably be angrier about you being in here alone with me than me refusing to sleep just because you think I'm sick."

The slamming door was her answer, and he laughed as he flopped onto his bed, popping another Advil into his mouth and mumbling a prayer to his father for help. He really did feel like crap.

He lay there, staring at the obsidian ceiling, wondering what was going on. How was he going to get Percy to realize that Enyalius was one of their biggest problems? At least until they discovered who or what was helping him?

A soft whirring attracted Nico's attention. A smooth, large, and extremely shallow dish of Stygian iron was sliding out of the wall, spinning as it did so. And as it emerged into his cabin, a small black vial appeared noiselessly upon it. The plate was floating in midair now, and its spinning slowed and halted as he approached it.

Popping the cap off the vial, Nico downed it in one gulp, silently thanking his father as the illness seemed to just evaporate off his body. In fact, he was steaming slightly through his shirt.

Shrugging, he dropped the little bottle into the fire burning in the grate, ignoring the tiny explosion as it fell. Nico was staring into the flames, almost wishing their crackling sound would provide some answers to the many questions pounding against his skull when the sound of the door opening arrested his attention.

"Nico," Percy said, standing uncertainly in the doorway, "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Come in first," Nico said, striding across the room and shutting the door behind his friend. "What?"

"We – I – need you to set a ghost on someone."

"You and Annabeth?"

Percy gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Who?"

"Travis."

Nico stared for a moment, in shock, before his trademark poker face slipped over his features. "Travis as in Travis Stoll? The Hermes kid?" When Percy nodded, he frowned. "Why?"

"He's off doing…something. We went to ask him about Clarisse and Chris but couldn't find him, and Connor basically told us to buzz off. He was pretty rude, which he rarely is. So, I mean, what's Travis doing that Connor can't tell us?"

Crossing his arms, Nico leaned back against the obsidian wall behind him. "I don't think we should tail him, Percy. I'm sorry, but maybe it's something unimportant that he just doesn't want to share with you or Annabeth. I mean, I'm definitely not going to tell you where I am every minute of the day, but you seem to be okay with me."

Percy glared. "This is important, Nico! I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't, but we both think that Travis might be involved in whatever's going on!"

"And maybe you and Annabeth aren't always right!" Nico's eyes were flashing, reminding Percy of the insane fire that glowed in Hades's eyes when the god was angry. Maybe he had picked an argument with the wrong demigod. Sons of Hades were probably as temperamental and possibly even more dangerous than sons of Poseidon, after all.

"Fine," Percy said coolly, turning on his heel and storming out of the cabin. If this were a cartoon strip, he would have dark thunderclouds floating ominously over his head.

Annabeth was waiting for him. "No go?" she asked, watching his expression.

"Nope. He refused."

She bit her lip. "Percy…don't tell him what we think about his father and everything, okay? I don't think you should tell him anything from here on out."

"You don't trust him at all now?"

"Do you?"

He sighed, tasting defeat on his lips. "I don't know, Annabeth." Percy buried her face in her blonde curls as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly.

"And, Percy, about him and Lily –"

"Don't try," he warned her. "Lily really likes him…I'm even starting to think she loves him. Unless we know for sure he isn't a good guy – which I still think he is – we shouldn't try to break them apart. She'll stand by him through anything, and hate us after it all."

"Okay." Annabeth's voice was muffled by his shirt. "But he may not be a bad guy, Percy, maybe he's just…" She trailed off, unsure what to say.

Percy tightened his grip on her. There was nothing more to say.

Miles and miles away, Jessie closed her eyes and gripped the armrests of her seat as the plane tilted downwards, gliding into a somewhat bumpy touchdown. As soon as the seatbelt sign switched off, she stood, grabbed her bag, and slipped through tired, lethargic, and cranky travelers to be one of the first off the plane.

She made her way quickly through the airport, appearing to most observers to be a teenager confident and capable enough to be traveling alone. A cold wind whipped her hair as she stepped out of the San Francisco International Airport, but it caused her little discomfort. New York, after all, could be very cold too.

Around her, people called to each other and exchanged hugs and kisses, trading stories and heaving large suitcases into their cars. A woman in a bright orange vest motioned traffic along, letting people park their cars in designated areas or directing them to a parking garage further down.

But there were no taxis as far as she could see. Since Jessie was fairly sure that there would be taxis at an airport, she decided to go back inside the terminal and wait until one appeared. And besides, she liked the revolving glass doors at the entrance.

Wandering through the airport, a variety of boutiques caught her eye. At first she attempted to dissuade herself from buying anything, but then she remembered the wallet her father had given her. If her money supply was apparently endless, she ought to do her part to stimulate the economy, right?

Two hours later, Jessie was standing outside the revolving doors at the entrance again, dressed in a warm mid-thigh Burberry coat, a red and beige scarf, dark brown leather knee-high boots, and her own skinny jeans. A little beige beret matched her coat completed the look.

A taxi drove slowly by and she approached it quickly, letting herself in the back door when the driver nodded at her.

"Where do you need to go?" he asked, turning around to look at her.

"Mount Tam," Jessie told him, fingering her straight hair. "I'll give you double if we can get there fast."

"I can try," the driver replied, a soft clicking noise filling the car as he changed back into the left lane, "But these roads have terrible traffic."

Jessie settled back into the leather seat as he drove. He hadn't been lying. The traffic was ridiculous. When she asked him to turn on the radio, he obliged, and the loud beats of the new Taylor Swift song filled the car.

The traffic on the freeway soon eased up, and cars and asphalt and the city and the ocean all blended together as the taxi picked up speed, racing along towards her destination. As they left the city behind, she saw signs pointing towards a National Park, in which Mount Tam was supposedly located. And sure enough, a huge mountain soon loomed up out of the fog before her.

Hopping out of the taxi and slinging her pink bag over her shoulder, Jessie handed the driver a fifty dollar bill and walked rapidly away, grinning at the shocked but happy look on his face.

Hurrying past the few visitors there, Jessie soon found herself at the foot of the tall mountain. Half hidden by the fog, it appeared tall and dark – utterly menacing. For a moment her heart's terrified thudding nearly convinced her to turn back, but she summoned Leo's face in her mind and dispelled the fear. She had to go on.

The mortal visitors seemed to be avoiding the mountain, almost as if they could feel the evil that Jessie thought was radiating from the mountain. Thankful that her boots were durable, flexible, and had treads – even though they also had a small, sturdy heel – she removed her coat and scarf, stuffing them into her bag, slipped a belt through the loops on her jeans and hung a few knives on it, strapped on her quiver, and gripped her still collapsed bow tightly in one hand.

Her thin, tight long-sleeved camouflage shirt did little to protect her from the savage wind, but Jessie ignored it and began to climb. At first, the mountain offered little resistance, but after she had scaled it for a while she began to notice a difference.

The shrubs and even the trees began to melt away, and Jessie found herself relying increasingly on her frozen fingers to help her grip the rocky surface as she ascended. But her boots helped her, giving her a firm footing to push herself off of.

A while later, Jessie found a tiny rock alcove in which she squished her body, thankful that she wasn't very tall. Her thighs and calves were burning with pain from climbing, and her biceps felt as if they had turned to rubber and then melted beneath her skin. Jessie's entire body trembled with fatigue, and her shaking fingers struggled to open the cap on her water bottle. But she took only a small gulp, knowing that she only had one bottle and that it would have to last.

Moments later she forced herself to slide the bottle back into her back and get back up. The ascent was beginning to scare her. The rock face was growing increasingly sheer, with fewer and fewer places for her hands and feet. And there was no rope to secure herself with. If she fell, she was probably dead meat.

Flexing her fingers and rotating her ankles, Jessie gradually forced her aching muscles into a crouch at the edge of her ledge. Shifting carefully so that she was facing the inside of the tiny alcove, poised precariously on the rock, Jessie held tightly to two rocks and leaned backwards, her midnight blue eyes searching for another place to grip as she climbed.

Gingerly, feeling like Spiderman without any of his spidery powers, and thanking her lucky stars that she did yoga on a regular basis – and also that her skinny jeans moved with her legs – Jessie eased feet into small potholes and then, so quickly that her eyes nearly missed the motion, released the hold her hands had on the rocks and reached for another spot instead.

From there, scaling the rock was difficult but not impossible. A few times Jessie nearly dropped her backpack, but in general she found it doable. But towards the top, she stopped, clinging to the rock face but unwilling to go higher.

It had just struck her that if Leo was up there, she could very possibly have to fight a lot of people or monsters to free him. And Jessie had no idea if she would be as lethal as she could usually be, considering how exhausted she felt – her entire body seemed to be afire, burning along with her flaming hair.

But if Leo wasn't there, she would feel even worse. Because then she would have no clue where he actually was. She shook her head, trying to clear such thoughts from her traitorous mind. Apollo would never have given her the plane ticket if Leo wasn't there. So he had to be there, right?

Pursing her lips, Jessie blew a few strands of her silky hair from her face, tilting back her head and wishing she'd tied her hair. Now the wind could wreak havoc in it. Whatever. She had bigger problems than tangled hair.

Looking down at her wrist, she examined the thick silver bracelet she was wearing. Leo, Jessie had to admit, was a total genius. He had engineered her bow to collapse into a wearable, if somewhat chunky, bracelet. How it worked, she had absolutely no idea, but it did. It worked beautifully – didn't even make a sound.

Checking that her right hand had a tight hold on the mountain's face, Jessie twisted her left hand's ring finger around – leave it to Leo to make her use the finger her wedding ring would one day go on – and pressed the well-concealed button that would elongate the bow.

Moments later the bracelet expanded and lengthened, smoothly transitioning into her silver hunting bow, engraved with depictions of Apollo hunting with his bow and her name in Ancient Greek.

Jessie slung the bow over her left shoulder, bit her lip, took a deep breath, and began to climb again, ignoring the searing pain with which her muscles protested. Leo's face hung over her mind's eye as she pulled herself up, panting for breath. She had something to fight for, something to die for, and that was what was keeping her going now.

Far away, on the other side of the United States, Lily headed towards the Forge. She had a hunch that maybe she would find some sort of clue there – after all, Leo spent an insane amount of time in there, and she knew Jessie visited the Forge whenever she felt sad or lonely or scared.

The door glided open with a slight push, and Lily noted thankfully that the Forge was empty. But even as she walked through it, searching for something useful, nothing jumped out at her. Some tools and metal pieces were still on the tables, but for the most part everything was in its place.

Lily was about to leave when a sweet smell, like designer perfume mixed with heady summer roses, wafted towards her on a breeze. She frowned. A breeze indoors when all the windows and doors were closed?

A soft thump made her turn, and she saw a map that had fallen from the collection of maps the Hephaestus cabin had stacked on one of the tables. As she picked it up, something clicked in her head. It was probably Aphrodite giving her the clue – a perfumed breeze? Of course.

Dropping the paper, Lily ran out the door, searching for Chiron. He could get her there faster than any of the pegasi.

In the Forge, the map of San Francisco neatly folded itself and flopped back onto the stack, leaving the cabin as it had been before the girl's visit.

**A/N: Sorry it's short! Had serious writer's block for this chapter! AND I AM SO SORRYYYY IT WAS SO LATE! But thank you for being patient! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE REVIEW! School is starting tomorrow so updates will take a bit longer, so reviews will help speed that up a bit! Cheers! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I forgot to mention something that I should have said in the last chapter, but didn't, so here it is: For the Mount Tam stuff, I did very little research. I made up everything about the mountain and the fog – knowing San Francisco, it could very well be true, but I don't really know. So if I'm wrong about something, please just let it slide – this is a fanfiction, after all. And on another note, THANK YOU to all you beautiful people who reviewed my last chapter! And to everyone who favorited or subscribed me or my stories. You guys are the best! This one's for you :D**

Chapter 17

The cabins raced by Lily in a blur, her hair flying in her slipstream as she ran to the Big House, clattering up the porch steps as her flip flops slapped against the wood. Panting, she wrenched open the door and slowed her steps as she entered. The house was quiet, so quiet that her breaths sounded unnaturally loud, and she left her flip flops by the door, preferring to ahead barefoot. The sandals had been only a few dollars, anyway. If one of the harpies wanted to "borrow" them, they could.

Lily padded softly down the corridors, glancing occasionally into rooms with half-open doors. But they were all empty. As she turned down another hall, flickering light from an open door caught her eye, and she headed towards it. But her heart sank as she entered. Two campers, a girl and a boy, were sitting on the floor in front of a fire. Playing chess.

"Hi," Lily said, taking another step towards them.

"Hey, you're Lily, aren't you?" The girl looked up, her violet eyes and long brown hair reflecting the light of the fire. "You're dating that really hot boy, aren't you? Nico?"

Lily blushed. "How do you –"

"_Everyone_ knows," the girl grinned. "I'm Elise Stone. Daughter of Hecate. And this is my friend Jacob," Elise added, waving her hand towards the boy opposite her. "He's a son of Aphrodite – you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him, would you?" Her eyes glinted with badly suppressed laughter.

Jacob, who was in fact quite attractive with his pale skin and dark hair and eyes, gave her a mocking glare and moved a piece on the board. "Checkmate."

"And he's smarter than you'd think, too," Elise muttered.

Lily laughed, but sobered quickly when she remembered Jessie. "Have either of you seen Chiron? I really need to talk to him."

They both shrugged. "No, haven't seen him in a while," Jacob said. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Lily left them to their next game, smiling faintly as she could hear them teasing each other as she walked away.

In about an hour, she had searched the house from top to bottom, even venturing into the deserted attic to check. But Chiron was nowhere to be found. In that case, she would have to take a pegasus.

Lily hurried out of the Big House, making sure to put her flip flops back on as she left, and in a few minutes was standing in front of the stables. But just as she put her hand on the door, the sound of hooves made her turn.

"Chiron!" Lily had never felt so relieved in her life.

"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I need to get to San Francsico," she blurted out.

"What?" His tail swished back and forth. "San Francisco?"

"Jessie's there," Lily explained, her hopes wilting as his face steeled itself. "Please, Chiron! She's alone, what if she needs help? I have to go!"

"It's not a good idea," Chiron frowned at her. "She'll be all right. But how did she get there?"

"I don't know! Can't you just take me there with the teleporting time thing centaurs can do? You don't have to stay, just take me!" When he remained unmoved, Lily winced internally before doing what she occasionally did to Nico to get him to give her what she wanted. She gave Chiron Bambi eyes.

The centaur sighed. "Okay, Lily. But I'm only taking you there – I don't want to leave this camp alone for too long."

"Yes!" Lily hugged him before running back towards her cabin. "I'll be back in a second!" she shouted over her shoulder.

She changed quickly into black and surprisingly feminine combat boots and a tight but flexible leather jacket, making sure that her skinny jeans were tucked inside the knee-high boots before strapping her sword to her belt. Looking in the mirror, she couldn't help grinning. Jessie's habit of wearing skinny jeans tucked into attractive combat-ready boots was rubbing off on her.

But the black jacket, dark blue jeans, and black boots, when combined with her dark hair, made her look evil, almost like some sort of vampire. Only her somewhat tanned skin and sea-green eyes contradicted that appearance. At least Jessie's hair was vibrant enough that _she _never looked like a vampire.

Shaking her head at herself, Lily grabbed a bright pink hair tie and pulled her hair back in a tight ponytail. After that, she tilted her head back and wound the ponytail into a braid, to ensure that none of it would fly in her face. Another pink rubber band secured the ends of the braid.

Chiron was waiting for her where she had left him, and his legs skittered nervously across the ground as she came closer. "You understand what you are getting into?" he asked, his eyes traveling over her outfit and sword.

"Yes," Lily breathed. But she couldn't leave Jessie there alone.

Silently, Chiron motioned for her to climb onto his back, bending down onto his forelegs to make it easier for her. When Lily was seated, he stood and took a few cantering steps forward before a wind began to swirl around them both.

Before she'd realized it he had broken into a gallop and they were airborne, the wind picking up intensity until her braid was whipping Lily repeatedly in the face and neck, leaving red marks across her skin.

The trees of the woods at camp, the sea, fields of wheat or corn, glittering cities…everything blurred together until the speed of their movement turned the landscape into a mirage of colors, as if she was seeing everything through a kaleidoscope.

They stopped, so suddenly that Lily flew off Chiron's back and landed on the ground, hard.

"Sorry," Chiron said, his tail swishing nervously. "I have to go. My presence will make things worse for you. Do you want me to tell –"

"No," Lily said emphatically. "Jessie and I need to talk, and we can take these people on alone. If I do need help I'll contact Nico. Thanks, Chiron."

He nodded and galloped to the edge of the cliff, the air around him shimmering until it enveloped him completely.

Alone, Lily looked around. Fog obscured much of what she saw, but it was clear enough that Chiron had deposited her on some sort of precipice. A few careful steps forward told her that she had a radius of a few feet to move on, and that was it. Penetrating the fog with her eyes was of little use – she could barely see anything above.

Laying her hands on the mountain's face, Lily groaned when she realized it was steep and rocky. She wasn't a rock climber! How was she going to get up?

Putting her hands on her hips, Lily glared up at the mountain. She'd come all the way to San Francisco. No stupid lump of rock was going to get in her way now. She was wondering how to attack the stupid lump of rock when something made her freeze. A soft, cool burst of air had collided with her neck, giving Lily the feeling that someone was taking deep breaths right behind her.

As goosebumps erupted all over her skin, she unobtrusively gripped the hilt of her sword and slowly turned around. "Shit."

"Exactly," Nico agreed, his every word quavering slightly with the gargantuan effort he was making to keep his voice steady. "Shit."

Lily bit her lip. He looked furious – his eyes were burning like the pits of hell his father was famous for controlling, tendons stuck out in his neck, and his corded, muscled arms were tense, with his fingers curled into tight fists. "How did you –"

"How did I find you?" Nico tilted his head to one side, like a panther observing its prey before striking. "Do you think that you could just run off like that without me finding out? Do you know that since Leo disappeared Bianca has been keeping an eye on you for me? Why –"

"You've been spying on me?" she gasped, indignation flaring in her chest. "How could you?"

"Because I don't want to lose you too!" he snarled, pushing her up against the rocky surface of Mount Tam behind her. Nico took a deep breath, his eyes locking onto hers as his chest heaved. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lily blinked under the intensity of his gaze, but didn't answer.

Nico could feel an unreasoning rage building up inside himself, but was trying to curb it. He knew only too well, just from watching his father, how uncontrollable he could be if he truly lost his temper. But he couldn't stop himself from shaking her by her thin shoulders, taking a twisted pleasure in her expression of pain at the tight grip of his hands.

"Tell me," he hissed, "Or we're both leaving. Now."

"No we're not!" Lily exclaimed, panic rising like a tidal wave inside her as his hold on her shoulders tightened. He could shadow-travel them both away, but then she would be abandoning Jessie to whatever else was here. "I didn't tell you because you would tell Percy and Annabeth," she whispered, staring down at his black Vans. She didn't want to see the hurt in his eyes. Or the anger.

He expelled a puff of air, and she felt it against her neck.

"I wouldn't have," Nico said quietly. "I didn't bring them here, did I?"

"But you always like to clear stuff with them, so I thought you would for this too, and –"

"Not anymore," Nico said, a wry smile twisting his slender lips. The amusement didn't reach his eyes. "Annabeth doesn't trust me anymore, and she's convinced Percy not to either. I'm surprised they haven't told you to leave me yet."

"How do you know?"

"Ghosts. I know more than most people think. They think my father is behind this."

Lily frowned. "Well, I do know why they haven't bugged me about leaving you." When he raised his eyebrows, she smiled. "I never would. And Percy knows that."

His grip on her shoulders had by now relaxed enough that she knew he wasn't upset with her any longer. Or at least not as much as he had been.

"So why are you here?" His eyes were constantly flitting around, and Lily realized suddenly that he was extremely tense, and the way his hands were laying on her shoulders gave her a delectable view of the muscles in his arms. And his tight black t-shirt wasn't helping her imagination at all. But of course he hadn't noticed.

"Jessie's here," she answered, sidling a little closer to him. "Looking for Leo. I didn't want her to be alone. What if she gets attacked or hurt?"

"Yeah, well, she's not alone now," Nico muttered.

Lily took another step towards him, staring into the fog over his shoulder.

When her hair tickled his chin, Nico glanced down, surprised to see her pressing up against him when she'd been nearly a foot away a few minutes ago.

"Hi," she grinned up at him, her eyes twinkling.

"Hey," he replied, holding back a chuckle as her eyes lowered slightly, focusing on his mouth. She was killing him.

Lily waited for a few moments, and then sighed. "Are you going to kiss me or not?"

"Not," Nico decided.

"Fine," Lily said haughtily, raising her chin and doing her best to look down her nose at him. The effect was slightly ruined because the top of her head was about the height of his shoulder, but that, in her opinion, was extraneous information.

Running her tongue lightly over her lips to moisten them, she raised her eyebrows at him. "So how do we find Jessie?"

There was a long pause, in which Nico stared at her glistening lips as if he hadn't heard a word she had just said.

"Hello?" Lily snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Earth to Nico!"

"What?" he blinked at her, his cheeks reddening slightly.

Lily smirked. Pouting her lips, she patted his cheek mockingly. "I asked you how we were going to find Jessie, thickhead."

"We climb up," he said matter-of-factly.

She scoffed. "Maybe you can climb that" – she jerked her thumb towards the mountain – "but I can't."

"Then we shadow-travel up." Nico's arms wound around her waist and dragged her towards him, and they both melted into the whirlpool of darkness and wind that she absolutely hated. Although it was nice to have him holding her so tightly.

They emerged on what seemed to be a whole different world – except that it looked exactly the same as where they had been before. There was fog everywhere, and the ground still felt rocky and hard. Lily felt her back twinge as she stepped away from Nico's bear hug. That fall from Chiron's back had probably left a bruise or two.

The air was frigid, and Lily was glad she'd worn her jacket. Nico, even though he was just in a regular t-shirt and jeans, looked perfectly at ease. But his eyes were worried, and tense around the corners.

He motioned towards his left, and they moved in that direction, keeping their drawn swords ready in their hands. Neither of them made a sound, and Lily was thankful for the combat boots that muffled her footsteps.

The mists seemed to whisper as they floated around the couple, and Lily was glad Nico stayed close to her. The almost imperceptible sound of his deep, slow breathing calmed her slightly, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched, that something evil was or had been here.

A soft sound made them both freeze. Nico dropped into a crouch, changing the angle of his sword slightly in his palm. Lily turned to cover his back, her breath sending small clouds of mist into the air. Suddenly a sharp twang sounded, and Nico launched himself at Lily, knocking her to the ground for the second time that day.

She winced as she landed, but forgot her pain when an arrow embedded itself in the ground where she had been standing. "I didn't bring a shield," she moaned into his ear, but he was already rolling off her and sprinting away into the fog.

Lily's heartbeat quickened as she watched him go, but she knew better than to call out his name, to call him back. Keeping her knees bent in preparation to run or fight, Lily kept herself moving in a slow circle, searching the darkness and the fog for something…hopefully Nico.

A cry of pain struck her ears, and before she knew it Lily was running, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Flashes of Nico lying on the ground, bloody and unresponsive, shaking with pain, clouded her vision, and she remembered the terrifying helplessness, the fear that he would never wake again.

_Please, not again_, Lily thought, praying to Aphrodite that Nico was okay. She even sent a quick prayer to her father as she ran, even though he probably couldn't care less about her. Desperation did funny things to people.

Something loomed out of the fog before her, so suddenly that she ran into it with a little shriek.

"Ow!" A very familiar voice mumbled some curse words, before trailing off. "Lily?"

"Jessie!" Lily hugged her best friend tightly, fighting the urge to squeal loudly.

"Yes, it's me!" Jessie squealed, bouncing around happily.

"Wait," Lily said, disengaging from the hug and looking around. "Where's Nico?"

"Here," Nico said, his deep voice sounding from behind her. There was a bloody scratch on the side of his neck, and a trickle of blood was running down his clavicle, but otherwise he seemed unhurt.

Relief, sweet relief, seeped through her veins. Without thinking, Lily fisted his shirt in her hands and pulled him close, dragging his head down with her other hand and kissing him firmly on the lips, biting down gently on his lower lip to gain entrance to his mouth.

And she was back in that familiar paradise, letting his tongue explore her mouth, twining with her own in a dance that she had never learned, but would never forget. Nico was pressing his mouth onto hers now, bending her so far backwards that she would have fallen without his arms there to hold her up.

Lily moaned softly as he began to make her legs quiver, her entire body feeling like it had turned to jelly.

"Okay, break it up!" Jessie's voice cut through the moment like a knife, and Lily felt Nico sigh against her lips before pulling away.

"Did you have to?" Lily asked breathlessly, leaning back against Nico for support as she caught her breath. "I was actually enjoying that."

"I really don't want to watch you guys making out from this close," Jessie said, rolling her eyes.

But Lily saw the pain in those dark blue orbs, and felt like punching herself. How could she have been insensitive enough to be kissing Nico right in front of her friend, when Jessie's boyfriend was missing?

"Let's get moving," Nico said, dabbing at the blood on his face with his black shirt. Lily felt blood suffuse her face as she got a glimpse of his toned stomach, and blushed even harder when Jessie winked at her.

But the girls followed him into the fog anyway, not wanting to dawdle too long.

"How did he get that scratch?" Lily whispered to Jessie, watching Nico's back in front of her as he strode ahead, and trying to keep her eyes from venturing any lower.

"That was me," Jessie breathed back. "He just kind of came up, and I didn't realize it was him, and I had a knife with me. I am sorry, I didn't mean to, but he dodged as I slashed at him, so it isn't anything too major."

Lily glared. "So I have you to thank for my boyfriend nearly dying?"

"Your boyfriend can take care of himself," Nico interrupted, turning back around. "I think we're back where we started."

"But did we go all the way around?" Jessie asked.

Nico nodded, his face grave.

Lily put her arms around Jessie as her face crumpled, and began to rock her slowly as Jessie started crying into her shoulder. "Shhh," she whispered. "We'll find him, don't worry. We've just got to keep looking. We're going to help you, okay?"

"Hey," Nico said sharply. "Do you see that?"

Lily sucked in her breath. There seemed to be a flickering light shining through the fog – firelight. But it was coming from below them.

"We have to go down," Nico asserted, walking to the edge of the precipice and looking down. "There's something there."

Jessie peered down the slope, her eyes narrowed. "Are we climbing down?"

"I don't think I can," Lily confessed, the steepness of the proposed path terrifying her. "I'm not a very good climber."

"Nico can carry you on his back," Jessie joked, her eyes sparkling with hope.

"Or I can shadow-travel us down," Nico said, but he looked unsure.

Jessie shook her head. "Three of us are probably too many. How about you and Lily do your shadow-travel thing, and I'll climb down and meet you there?"

"You sure?" Lily asked, frowning. "That doesn't look very safe."

Shaking her head, Jessie grinned. "The risks are what make it fun," she explained. "You should try it sometime."

"Nico's enough of an adrenaline junkie for both of us," Lily smirked, "But maybe I'll try climbing some rocks sometime. Just not today."

"I'll see you two at the bottom, then." Slinging her bow over her left shoulder and making sure the strap of her quiver was tight over her torso, Jessie swung herself over the edge and almost immediately was swallowed up by the fog.

"You think she'll be okay?" Lily asked Nico, bending over the edge to peer into the fog.

"She will. She looks pretty athletic," Nico said, pulling Lily back by her arm. "Don't stand so close to the edge. You'll fall over."

Lily looked up at him through her lashes. "Maybe I fell already. What do you think?"

"I think you're talking like this is a romance novel," Nico chuckled, lacing his fingers through hers. Her hands were so small compared to his, and her fingers so slender. Fragile, almost.

"Well, it could be," Lily said, laying her head on his chest and raising their intertwined hands to her eye level, studying the way her hand fit perfectly inside his. "I mean, we're supposed to not be together because your dad is Hades and mine is Poseidon; my brother has frequent fits of overprotectiveness; we have lots of drama; and we're madly in love. This could be a romance novel. It's just missing one thing."

"What?" Nico's expression was pained, and Lily smiled as she traced the curvature of his slender lips with a finger.

"You shouldn't dislike the idea of being in a romance novel if you get to be in it with me," she scolded lightly. "And if this were one, you're supposed to kiss me now. You know, we're holding hands, standing this close together…on top of a mountain, it's all foggy…What?" She blinked at him. He was giving her a very strange look.

"Girls are insane," Nico pronounced slowly, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before. "But I guess I can deal."

Lily felt her eyelids flutter involuntary as he bent down, cupping her face between his hands and raising it to his. As he came closer she closed her eyes, parting her lips slightly, already imagining how wonderful it would feel to connect with him again, when she felt his mouth press gently against one eyelid, and then the other.

When he kissed her forehead she opened her eyes, wanting to give him an indignant look, but that particular urge vanished when she saw the loving, soft expression on his face. It was one he rarely wore, and Lily felt overwhelmed when she realized how much he must love her if he could look that way when he was with her.

And she loved him that much too.

"Come here," she mumbled, her impatience getting the better of her when he began trailing soft kisses down from the side of her temple to her chin. Pulling his head down to hers, Lily took advantage of the way his lips had parted with surprise to deepen the kiss as soon as it had begun.

He tasted like heaven. She could never really find the words to describe the way it felt to touch him, to be with him, to be a part of him. And the fact that he let her see so much of himself when he was solitary by nature – his father was to be blamed for that, and the other Olympians for not including Hades in the first place – made it even more amazing.

Yet again she began to feel like a piece of candy. The way Nico liked to swirl his tongue around hers drove her crazy, largely because he loved to tease her. He would give her everything but complete, direct contact until she was practically whimpering into him. But her stubborn streak made her hold out as long as possible.

Finally Lily couldn't take it anymore, and she moaned when his tongue left hers to explore her mouth instead. His chest rumbled under her hands as he chuckled against her, and then he dove in again, and Lily felt her head begin to spin.

She couldn't remember her name, didn't know where she was or why, but at the moment she couldn't care less. Lily felt as if she were being whipped around in a roiling sea of passion, unable to control or direct herself, but something was anchoring her to the seafloor – and that anchor was Nico.

His hands were wandering, one was tracing patterns lightly on the back of her left thigh, a feeling which tickled unbearably, but she couldn't bear breaking the kiss or shifting her position against him even slightly for fear of ending what they had begun. And his other hand had pushed up her shift and was caressing her midriff and spine; occasionally a finger would run over one of her ribs, tracing the line. Suddenly she felt a tickling sensation there too, and squirmed against him without thinking. Lily felt him smile against her mouth, and he began nibbling on her lower lip, making her whimper without even knowing why, arching and tilting her neck until he returned his tongue to hers.

But eventually the need for oxygen overcame her need for Nico, and Lily broke the kiss, collapsing against him bonelessly.

"We should do that more," Nico panted. Lily could feel his chest rising and falling rapidly beneath her head and hands as she rested against him, and marveled at how he could stay standing even when she was leaning almost her entire weight against him.

"I think we say that every time," she grinned, pressing a kiss against the hollow of his neck. Taking a few more deep breaths, Lily took a step away from him. "Let's go. Jessie might even be there by now."

"Okay," Nico said, drawing his sword in his right hand, "But you've got to come back here if you want me to shadow-travel you anywhere."

Lily smiled, snuggling into his arms again. She drew her sword as they melted into the shadows, swearing to herself that she would do whatever it took to get Leo back for Jessie. If she had been in her friend's shoes, and Nico had been taken, she would probably have gone mad. Lily didn't think she could live without him. He was her life, her happiness, her smile. Everything worth living for.

**A/N: And there you are! It's actually a bit longer than most chapters, I think, so I hope it wasn't totally boring for all of you! And could you please please review? I didn't get very many for the last chapter, which was heartbreaking, but I wanted to get this next one out for you all. SO PLEASE REVIEW! Don't make me sad! I don't write well when I'm not happy. And thank you SO MUCH for everyone who reviewed and all that last chapter – even though I think I said that already. It really is worth repeating. Love you ALL. THANK YOU. For reading and putting up with me and being fantastic wonderful people. **

**Cockapoo xxx**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Here is my latest update. Enjoy, and please review at the end! Thanks to everyone who bothered to do so last chapter! **

**Cockapoo xxx**

Chapter 18

He had guided them perfectly. Lily and Nico materialized on the edge of another ledge, but this seemed to lead into a sort of cave, from which the warm, flickering light was emanating. Jessie was already there, crouched in the shadows, her bow strung. She was holding an arrow against the silver bow, and her hair and eyes glinted in the weird light.

"Let's go," Lily breathed, her breath misting over as she exhaled.

Carefully, silently, the three of them crept into the cave in the face of the mountain, keeping to the shadows to avoid being caught in the wavering reddish light. But as they progressed farther, and the mouth of the cave vanished behind rock, it the light seemed to expand into the narrowing passage, and it became harder to stay in the darkness. At one point, Lily turned to look at Nico, who was walking behind the two girls, and she had suddenly appreciated how lucky he was to be a son of Hades.

Nico's body seemed to be made of smoke; he was flickering in and out of shadow, even when crossing through a well-lit patch on the ground. It was the perfect camouflage. His form was difficult to focus upon – the visual equivalent of trying to capture smoke in your hands.

Jessie's hand on her arm made Lily stop, and she looked up to realize that the passage was widening again. Hopefully they were at their destination. Lily's heartbeat was thudding rhythmically in her ears, making her wonder if the others could hear the sound of her trepidation. Something felt terribly wrong, but she was terrified to voice the possibility that Leo could be badly injured, even dead. It would tear Jessie apart, without any proof at all.

Motioning for them to stay still and quiet, Nico, taking advantage of the visual protection his father's powers gave him, slipped around the bend and vanished from their sight. Lily crossed her fingers over the cool metal blade of her sword, feeling her pulse against the bronze. She could hear Jessie's breathing, loud and erratic. But there was nothing to say to calm her friend, and the sound would just be an unnecessary risk.

When Nico reappeared, Lily released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. But panic's icy fingers trailed over her breast, penetrating into her, when she caught the look in his eyes.

His voice, when he spoke, was so soft and low that she could barely hear it. "Brace yourselves," Nico warned. "You can't react, okay? We need to stay hidden and unnoticed until we're in position." Those dark eyes moved from Lily's to Jessie's, staring into her blue ones with an almost scary intensity. "You _cannot_ give us away. No matter what you see. Otherwise you can't come."

"I won't," Jessie whispered. Her skin was so pale, her red hair vivid against the whiteness. Lily took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Nothing to say.

Biting her lip, Lily followed Nico around the curve in the rock pathway, Jessie walking silently behind her. Nico's fingers closed around her forearm, and she grabbed Jessie's hand, pulling her best friend along after her as Nico guided her into the smoky gloom. Which wasn't just a figure of speech.

The smell of burning wood filled the air, and smoke obscured Lily's vision and made her eyes sting and water with pain. They moved in a silent chain through the gloom and haze, trying not to choke, until Nico led them past the smoke into a dark corner in which they could once again breathe freely, their chests heaving as they gasped silently for cleaner air.

But as Lily looked around, she saw something that made her heart stop beating momentarily in her breast. Turning quickly to her right, she clapped a hand over Jessie's mouth, just as her friend was raising her eyes to take in the scene before her. Jessie moaned softly, but the sound was muffled by Lily's hand, which she withdrew after the initial shock had ended.

Lily's aquamarine eyes found Nico's, found her own terror and shock mirrored in his own, but the expression in his dark eyes was morphing from those emotions to something different, something she recognized and had learned to fear in him. Fury.

Her gaze ventured back towards the arresting images in front of her, her ears buzzing so loudly that she couldn't hear anything, not the voices or the crackling of the flames.

And there were voices, unless her eyes were lying to her. But she really wished they were, as Jessie's hand began to tremble in her own.

There were three figures in front of them, behind a huge bonfire that was emitting copious amounts of smoke. One Lily recognized instantly, and felt her stomach drop at the thought. Enyalius. She felt Nico stir beside her and knew that he had realized it too.

Against her will, Lily felt her eyes drawn again to the two other bodies near him. Both were huddled against the far wall, but one was sitting up while the other was stretched out, unmoving. Both were covered with various wounds. And blood. One was probably Chris, and the other Leo, but Lily couldn't distinguish one from the other. The blood, smoky haze in the air, and the angle at which their faces were turned prevented that.

Enyalius took a step forward, and grabbed the sitting boy by his torn shirt, hauled him into a standing position, ignoring the boy's cry of pain. And Lily took in a sharp breath when she got a better look at his face. It was Chris. That meant the one who was supine, unconscious, was Leo…

Nico was moving away, stealing through the meager protection the shadows provide him to the other side of the room. Lily gave Jessie's shaking hand a tight squeeze and then released it, trying to imitate Nico's silent, stealthy tread as she followed him, leaving a good distance between them. Over her shoulder, she saw Jessie moving in the opposite direction, and prayed that Leo was still alive.

Now she was drawing nearer to Enyalius and his two captives, near enough to hear what was being said. In fact, she was somewhat surprised she hadn't heard it earlier, because Enyalius seemed to be being quite loud.

"Tell me!" he roared, shaking Chris roughly from side to side.

Chris mumbled something indistinct, flecks of blood spraying from his mouth as he spoke. Lily wrinkled her nose as the metallic, cloying smell of blood filled the air, and her heart thudded erratically in her chest as she thought of what Chris and Leo must have gone through.

"Do you know why you're here right now?" Enyalius hissed, releasing Chris and letting him drop to the floor. Chris screamed with pain as he hit the ground, and Lily's eyes filled with tears as she realized that his leg – and possibly other bones – were broken. It was lying at a strange angle from his body. Too strange to be natural.

She stayed where she was, and searched the darkness with her eyes to find Nico. He was still moving, trying to reach a spot approximately opposite hers. And Jessie, too, was still on the move. They would have to wait before attacking. Lily had a feeling Nico wanted to hear what Enyalius had to say.

"Because we need to split those demigods up," Enyalius said, answering his own question. "Some will come after you soon, and the rest will be at Camp, awaiting their return. And yours. Meanwhile, the gods are still squabbling, and they are disunited enough that by the time our friend is fully unleashed, they will be unready and unwilling and unable to go into battle. And Olympus will be ours."

Lily rolled her eyes. Why did all villains have to be megalomaniacs? Across from her, Jessie was in position, holding her bow at the ready, but careful to stay as far back in the darkness as she could, for fear of the firelight glinting off the silver bow.

Enyalius was stepping back now, surveying the two demigods with a twisted pleasure. "So now, since you'll both probably be dead by the time your pathetic little rescuers come to pick you up" – Lily saw Jessie's eyes flare with hope at that phrase – "let me tell your wondering minds why this is happening. Don't you think that the gods have been letting themselves be _ruled _by your kind? Ever since that Jackson upstart started dictating to the gods what they should do, they've been…_slipping_."

Lily's eyes switched from Enyalius to Nico and Jessie. They were both poised for battle, Nico with his sword clutched tightly, and Jessie had a drawn bow raised and aimed, the shaft of the arrow brushing against her hair. But neither was moving. Lily suspected that they were all waiting for Nico's signal, but he seemed to be waiting for something. She had a feeling he was waiting for Enyalius to drop any more hints – about whether or not he was working with others, or what exactly he was planning to do. She wanted, so badly, to run across the room and scream that they couldn't waste time, that Chris and Leo were badly hurt and bleeding out over the rocky ground, but she couldn't. And Nico, being the son of Hades, probably knew exactly how much time those two had left. But she hated to wait, and she didn't think that Jessie was enjoying it either.

"And you know what? We're readier and more powerful than you think. Morpheus and I, and a few others, have decided that we minor gods deserve a spot on Olympus. A throne. Those so-called major gods, what do they do, anyway? Sit around and argue over what food ought to be served at the next party they throw, or redo their makeup for the hundredth time? And yet they still want to keep us from our rightful place on Olympus, thinking to keep the power for themselves." He spat on the ground. "Olympus has gone to the dogs, and it's time we fixed that. All we needed was a little assistance from a far more powerful ally, which we have, although he is slightly…incapacitated."

Leo raised his curly head, moving slowly, as if the air around him had turned to molasses and was hindering every movement he made. His lips parted, and he rasped something that Lily couldn't catch. She saw the flash of joy in Jessie's eyes as she drank in the evidence that Leo was still alive. But that flash vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Leo's comment seemed to have seriously irritated Enyalius, who snarled something equally unintelligible in response and then kicked Leo in the ribs, hard. The boy sprawled backwards, his head slamming into the ground, and lay there, unmoving.

Lily gasped, and her neck cracked as her head spun to look to Nico, watching for his lead. But Jessie didn't bother. With a sharp twang, an arrow hurtled out of Jessie's vicinity, its shaft headed straight for Enyalius's neck. But the god spun around at the sound and caught the arrow before it could embed itself in his flesh.

"So," he said, baring his teeth in a hellish grin and advancing on Jessie, who looked terribly alone but terribly angry, "You're here."

This time, Lily didn't bother waiting for Nico – although, had she looked, she would have seen him doing the same thing she was. Instead, she barreled out from her hiding spot, gripping her sword in her right hand and grabbing the hilt of one of her knives in the other, yanking it out of the belt to which she had strapped it.

Snarling, Enyalius whirled in a circle, the heel of his black boot screeching softly as he did. Two long swords, each fashioned like a butcher's knife, scarily long and wicked sharp. The blades gleamed in the firelight.

Lily reached him first, but even as she swung her sword towards him he parried and retaliated so hard that she felt herself being knocked off her feet and flew backwards, praying that she wouldn't break anything in the landing. As she crashed into what felt like solid and somehow pointy concrete, Lily cried out with pain, closing her eyes momentarily as she felt something hot and liquid trickle down her back, soaking into her shirt and sticking it to her body. And her head felt hot and sticky too.

Her ears were ringing, but she could near Nico shouting something, the sound of blades crashing into each other, and the hum of a reverberating bowstring, all contributing to what felt like the start of a massive headache. But Lily forced herself to take three deep breaths and then rose unsteadily from the ground, thinking of Leo and Chris and everything they must have suffered when she felt like collapsing back to the floor.

And when she got a good look at what was going on, Lily forgot her pain and lightheadedness, racing back into the fray. Enyalius had Jessie in a headlock and was doing his best to choke her, while her bow lay forgotten on the ground behind her. With his left hand and the sword it held, Enyalius was holding off Nico, who for all his talent with a blade couldn't get under the god's guard.

Lily had been hoping she would be able to at least wound him before Enyalius noticed her, but her luck really seemed to have deserted her. Maybe it was living it up in the Bahamas. Enyalius dropped Jessie while Lily was still a few feet away from him and repositioned himself so that he could see both Nico and Lily. Jessie lay retching on the ground, clutching her throat and gasping for air so loudly that Lily's chest constricted at the sound.

But all thought whizzed out of her mind as Enyalius began to attack her and Nico simultaneously, and Lily found that she was hard pressed to defend herself, even though Enyalius was fighting two of them. How was he this good? She seemed to remember a story about Percy defeating Ares in a duel in only a few minutes…maybe that was because he was fighting in the surf. What she would give for a beach right now…

She spun in a circle to avoid the slicing arc of Enyalius's sword and stepped back, hoping Nico could hold his own in the few minutes while she caught her breath. What she saw made her catch her breath. Nico was doing his shadow-traveling-son-of-Hades thing again to travel only a few feet at a time, and as a result it was nearly impossible for Enyalius to figure out where he was or to parry any of the demigod's blows. And Nico had been doing a pretty good job of using that to his advantage. Although he sported several cuts, some of which were bleeding freely, Lily managed to tear her eyes away from him long enough to realize that Enyalius was wounded too – ichor was flowing from several wounds he had.

Lily whirled back into the fight, reinvigorated by the knowledge that Enyalius was wounded too. They could defeat him. Her body buzzed with energy and adrenaline as the ADHD and her demigod instincts took over. Her golden blade flashed through the air, her wrist protesting as Enyalius met it with his own, pressuring her arm. For a while, though, Lily found that she was equal to the physical demand of fighting a god – until he got his blade under hers and twisted rapidly. A sharp pain exploding through her wrist, and Lily shrieked with pain, stumbling back and cradling her right hand, doubling over and squeezing the joint.

Another loud hum rolled through the cave and Enyalius cursed loudly. Lily raised her head, her eyes streaming, to see Jessie back on her feet, black and blue bruises all around her neck. But her head was thrown back, her eyes gleaming with bloodlust – something that Lily had never seen on her friend's normally gentle face before, and something she hoped she never saw there again. It was terrifying. And the arrow, as usual, had found its mark. Enyalius retreated to the far end of the cave, golden blood spurting from a wound on the side of his neck. His face was twisted with pain and anger.

Panting, Lily watched, uncomprehending, as Enyalius's form began to glow, a golden hue at first appearing to be pulsing just underneath his skin. But it began to radiate through him, punching through his body like rays from the sun in those children's picture books she had loved to thumb through as a child. The light was captivating, beautiful in its intensity, and Lily couldn't look away. It held her.

She dimly heard Jessie's cry of understanding, heard Nico bellow something, but stood still, a statue. As the brightness became so intense that pain began to shoot through her eyes, a heavy weight hurtled into her waist and knocked her over, and her head slammed yet again into the rocks at her feet.

A hot hand slapped against her face, covering her eyes, and moments later a dull boom shook the cave, and through miniscule gaps in the fingers over her eyes Lily saw a white-hot light blossom from where Enyalius was – or had been. And in another moment, it was over.

Nico rolled off her, lying on his back and staring up above, his chest heaving. And suddenly he sat up. "Are you crazy?" he shouted at her, his dark eyes flashing. "Why didn't you look away? You could have died if I hadn't reached you in time!"

"She didn't know," Jessie gasped, too short of breath to speak coherently.

"When a god assumes his true form, you look away or die," Nico snapped, standing up.

"Oh gods," Jessie whispered suddenly, her voice quavery. They turned to look at her, but she was running, and then she was falling to her knees beside Leo.

Lily crossed the cave too, putting a hand to her mouth as she got a good look at the two boys. Both were passed out. Leo was covered in numerous burns, his skin puckered and red where it wasn't bleeding or bruised. His hair was matted and soaked with blood, and several cuts all over his body had stained his skin and clothes with blood, as well as the ground around him. A line of red trickled from the corner of his mouth, running a thin trail down his chin and throat, which bore bruises similar to Jessie's. Chris looked a little better – at least he wasn't burned – but he too was bruised and bloody, and unconscious. It was a wonder they were both alive, but all Lily could do was gape at their still bodies and try to quiet her heaving stomach, which was threatening to make her sick. All that blood…

Jessie was hyperventilating from the ground, and it was that sound that roused Lily from her torpor. Nico was staring at the nearly unrecognizable forms of his friends, blinking at them as if by refusing to believe what his eyes were showing him, he could alter reality.

Kneeling down, Lily grabbed Jessie's shoulders. "Jessie. Calm down. Listen, you need to breathe, okay?" When Jessie remained unresponsive, her breath coming in rapid gasps, Lily began to panic. "Jessie! Can you hear me? Jessie!"

"Slap her," Nico said quietly. "You need to shock her."

Lily didn't wait for him to repeat it. She smacked Jessie on the side of her face, and sighed with relief when Jessie fell over on her side but began breathing normally.

"What was that for?" Jessie fingered the redness on her cheek, irritated.

"You were hyperventilating. She needed to snap you out of it, and this was the best way. Unless you wanted me to hit you." Nico knelt down beside them. "Jessie, can you heal them?"

"I don't know," Jessie whispered, her fingers stroking Leo's face lightly. Her eyes were brimming with tears again. "It's so much, and I have nothing I can work with."

Lily stared at the floor. This couldn't be happening. They'd actually found both Leo and Chris, and now for them to die…There had to be a way to help them.

"You're bleeding," Nico whispered, his hand stroking Lily's hair lightly. "Your head and your back. We need to get back. All of us."

Suddenly the air began to shimmer in front of them, and Lily looked up. An Iris-message appeared, the rainbow seeming out of place in the dim, gloomy atmosphere of the cave. The violet-eyed girl who Lily had met earlier, Elise, stared wildly through the rainbow at them, a long scratch running down the side of her face. Nico cursed loudly, and Lily bit her lip. She had a sinking feeling in her gut.

"Where are you?" Elise practically screamed, looking panicked. Her background seemed to be one of the rooms in the Big House, but Lily could hear lots of shouting emanating from the message.

"San Francisco," Nico answered, leaning forward on his knees. "Why what's going on? Are you under attack already?"

"Yes!" Elise shrieked, looking furious. "What are you idiots doing in San Francisco? Why are you all bleeding?" She peered through the Iris-message and gasped. "Who are they? What happened to them? I need to tell Percy – PERCY!" she shouted.

"No!" Lily stopped her. "Don't call him, he'll panic unnecessarily. Just tell him we're in San Francisco and we found Jessie. What's going on over there?"

"Don't really know," Elise said, now looking harassed. "There's monsters bursting out from all over the place, no one knows how, is Hades having issues controlling the Underworld or something again?"

Lily opened her mouth to reply, and froze. Nico had a look of shock on his face, and Jessie hadn't noticed anything, too busy dripping nectar from a water bottle she'd carried in the bag she'd dumped in the passage outside the corner they'd rounded to enter the cave onto Leo and Chris's wounds. But Lily was sure she hadn't imagined the ground trembling under her body – and Nico's expression confirmed it. Once again, something was very seriously wrong.

"Hello?" Elise said, waving her hand in front of her face.

"We gotta go, but we're okay," Nico said, slashing a hand through the rainbow, dissipating the image. "We need to get out of here," he said, standing up.

"How?" Lily stared helplessly around her. "Do you think you could carry Chris? Jessie and I can try to take Leo. Maybe we can make it outside, but…"

"Outside will be good enough," Nico decided. The shaking was becoming more violent, and small rocks were breaking off from the ceiling and rolling down to the floor, striking it with sounds like raindrops falling on a glass window.

"Come on, then," Jessie said, suddenly businesslike. She slipped her arms through the straps of her backpack, and then bent down again. Lily grabbed Leo's legs and Jessie wrapped her arms around his torso, and together they heaved him up into the air, Lily feeling incredibly grateful that Leo was skinny like Nico. They both had barely any fat on their bodies – just muscle and bones and skin, and whatever else was supposed to be in between.

Nico was struggling to stand, Chris's body draped over his shoulders like an ungainly coat. "Move!" he shouted, his voice hoarse, as rocks began to fall faster, some directly between them and the exit. One nearly crushed Jessie, making Lily cry out with concern.

They stumbled towards the mouth of the passage, Lily uncomfortably aware that a long walk through that rocky passage awaited them before they would emerge onto the tiny lip outside the cave's outer entrance. Nico was behind her, his breath ragged and shallow, but the one time she had turned around to ask him if he was alright, he bellowed at her to keep moving. So she did.

Leo's weight was making her arms burn in their sockets, and clouds of dirt billowed up from the ground, obscuring her vision as they combined with the smoke still following them out from the cave. Somehow Jessie seemed to be doing fine, or at least she wasn't betraying any pain.

An earth-shaking thud made the ground shake, and Lily yelled in shock as a huge rock tore off the ceiling and landed to her immediate right, shards of broken rock cutting into her body, as well as Leo's and Jessie's. Pain wracked her form as the wounds she had received earlier at Enyalius's hands began to throb in time with her erratic pulse, and a sudden bout of lightheadedness made her halt. She could feel blood trickling down her back again, a hot, wet certainty of the pain that her dizziness was making almost possible to ignore.

"Keep moving!" Jessie screamed as more rocks began to break loose, the entire tunnel shaking violently.

Coughing as she inhaled dust, Lily stumbled the last few yards behind Jessie's vaguely visible form and gasped as the cold night air hit her face. They were outside. But the ground hadn't ceased to quake. Lily turned to ask Nico if he was alright, but the words died on her lips. There was no one behind her.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: IMPORTANT NEWS: WE JUST CLEARED 600 REVIEWS! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO MUCH FOR EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED FOR ME! I LOVE YOU MORE THAN I CAN EVER TELL YOU. 3**

Chapter 19

For a moment Lily just stood and stared, her lips parted in shock, hoping against hope that Nico would emerge from the dissipating dust clouds. She could still hear rumbling inside the tunneling passage, which meant that it hadn't yet finished collapsing. But a few minutes later, she could no longer deny the fact that Nico wasn't coming out. Had he shadow-traveled out, or was he inside, trapped and helpless and badly injured? He had already been wounded, so another injury could quite possibly debilitate him completely.

Kneeling, Lily dropped Leo's legs onto the ground, but her wrist turned to the side as she did so and she gasped as pain tore through the tendons in her hand.

"What's wrong?" Jessie was beside her in an instant, taking her hand and examining it. "It's okay, it isn't broken," Jessie assured her. "I can strap it up for you. Where's Nico? Did he shadow-travel himself and Chris out?"

"I don't know!" Lily hated the fear and desperation in her own voice. "I have to go back in and look for him."

Jessie knew better than to argue. Maybe, Lily thought, it was because Jessie herself would have gone right back into the collapsing passage if Leo had been left behind. "Here," Jessie said a few minutes later, wrapping a strip of cloth she had torn from Leo's half-shredded shirt tightly around Lily's wrist, "This should help. Just be careful. It'll be tender till it sets back properly. But sprains heal fast. Good luck!"

"Thanks!" Lily rotated her wrist experimentally. Jessie had managed to hold it together, but that also meant that her movements were limited. But it was better than the sharp pain that she had felt earlier. Making sure her sword was attached to the thin leather belt she always wore, she headed back through the settling dust, hoping that the smell of blood and death was just in her imagination. Or from Leo, over whom Jessie was now fretting.

The mouth of the cave was nearly blocked up, but Lily hoisted herself up over a mound of rocks nearly as tall as she was and continued to pick her way through. "Nico?" she called, her eyes flitting from one dark shape to another, trying to decide whether the lumps were rocks of people. Darkness made everything so difficult.

Echoes carried her cry back to her, but no deep voice answered hers. Swallowing the lump disappointment created in her throat, Lily took another three steps forward, and tripped over a rock, falling hard onto another one. "Ow," she whispered, pulling her battered body up again. Blood was welling slowly out of a shallow but long cut on her left forearm, and the skin on her left cheekbone felt terribly tender. For a moment Lily wallowed in her own pain, and then remembered Nico.

Reaching out with her hands, Lily began to feel her way through the tunnel as the already scant amount of light began to diminish. Dust floated through the air, making her eyes burn, and she coughed as she inhaled it. The shaking seemed to have stopped, thankfully, and no more rocks were threatening to crush her beneath them as they fell. The cloying smell of her blood seemed to hang heavily in the air, intensified by the lack of space.

Rocks bumped into her from either side, and Lily began to thank the gods that she was pretty skinny as she found herself squeezing in between small gaps that she wasn't too sure Jessie would have managed to fit through – although Jessie was by no means fat. She was just curvier.

"Nico!" Lily's voice echoed out throughout the crushingly cramped space, her hands waving blindly in the dark as she searched for the rocks bound to be in her path. "Nico! Are you here?"

She took a step forward, and suddenly felt something grab her ankle, grasping her boot firmly. She screamed, and the sound reverberated terrifyingly in the chamber.

"Lily?"

She sank to the floor, feeling ready to cry with relief. She would have known that voice anywhere. "Nico? What happened? Are you hurt?" Lily reached out, her fingers searching for the familiar angular lines of his face in the darkness, but his hand arrested them in midair. Evidently, he could see in the dark much better than she could. But what really held Lily's attention was the heat his grip was giving off; his skin was burning up.

"Get…Chris out…" Nico rasped, his voice sounding like it had been dragged alternately over gravel and sandpaper. "He's better."

"What happened?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I'm not leaving you here! Can you walk?"

Nico coughed, a dry, hacking sound that frightened her so badly she felt like clutching him to her breast and sobbing. But that might spell death for them all, so she resisted.

"No," he gasped out, and Lily felt his hot fingers sliding over her face, a small little gesture he'd made oh so often. Now his fingers were unsteady, trembling over her cheeks and nose, brushing her eyelashes. She grasped his hand in her own, cupping her cheek with his hand and letting a tear fall over his fingers, wondering if his body heat would cause it to evaporate.

Trailing her right hand over his, Lily traced the hard muscles of his arm all the way up to his shoulder and let her fingers skip lightly over his chest and collarbone, finding his neck and face. His skin felt as if flames were dancing over it, but Lily froze suddenly. The tip of her index finger had brushed across something wet on the side of his neck, and there was something similar a few more inches away. In places his skin was rough, in others it was wet, and Lily felt a wave of nausea as the realization hit her. She was dipping her fingers in blood.

An image flashed into her mind: Leo. Those terrible burns covering his skin – at the time, it hadn't struck her, but Lily remembered now that he was immune to fire. How had Leo gotten burned so badly? Her intuition was telling her that Nico had suffered those same burns. What she didn't know was how.

She was scared now to touch him, scared of what her fingers would discover as they explored his skin in the dark. She was glad she couldn't see; the light would only confirm the horrible reality she was trying to deny.

"Lily," he said hoarsely, his fingers clumsily wiping a second tear off her cheekbone. "Hey. It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Lily pressed her lips to his palm, and then to his fingers, kissing each one. "I'm going to get you out of here."

"You can't carry me and Chris," Nico grated out. "Take him and get out before this place collapses." He took a long, shuddering breath. "I'm not going to make it."

She could have slapped him. Instead, Lily let her fingers creep up over his chin, and groaned. He was covered in blood, his skin slippery, wet, and hot. "Nico," she moaned, tears beginning to slip from her eyes, pooling on her cheeks and then sliding down.

"Go. This place could collapse any minute."

"No!" Lily pulled his head onto her lap, wishing she could lie down next to him and hold him. But there wasn't enough room. Even his hair was bloody, but it wasn't as bad as his face felt. "You did this before, too, when that ghoul slashed you! Stop telling me to leave you and go! If you're staying, so am I."

"Don't be stupid," he growled. "I've only got a few more minutes, and you need to get out. There's going to be an aftershock from that quake any minute now. Get him and go."

Lily sniffled, and wrapped her arms around what she thought was his chest, not caring if his blood stained her skin and clothes. "Nico, what happened?"

There was a pause, punctuated by only his loud, ragged breathing.

"Acid," he said finally. "Those burns on Leo weren't from fire. It's acid. Hurts like hell." He swallowed. "I think he…spiked some of the rocks with it or something. It came from nowhere…I couldn't even shout to you to tell you to run." His hand stroked her hair, twirling the end of her braid. "I'm glad you're okay."

Lily felt a sob rising in her throat and stifled it. She really couldn't help him, no matter how much she wanted to. Acid. Bile rose in her at the very thought of how it must have felt, what it must have done to him.

She was crushing his body to her, terror seizing her body as she felt him beginning to take shallower breaths, his limbs quivering as she held him. Nico was slipping away from her, and there was nothing she could do about it but cry.

"I love you," she whispered, bending over him and kissing his hair. Her fingers had detected blood and small burns on his lips, and she didn't want to hurt him more. "I love you so much."

He tried to respond, but it came out as a gravelly cough.

Under her fingers, Nico's lashes fluttered shut, and Lily began to sob again as his head lolled back against her knee. She moved her right hand to his neck, her fingers struggling to secure a hold on his skin, both because of the blood covering them and because of the blood coating his skin. But she managed, and lightly pressed her hand over his pulse point. It was there, weak but definite, erratic but still distinct. She could feel his skin pulsing very faintly against her hand.

The smell of blood pressed against her nose, but Lily was unaffected by it. It was as if she were watching the scene from afar, with her face pressed up against the glass window through which she saw it unfold, her breath misting the transparent, cool surface. And in her imagination, Nico would stand up, kiss her, and they would get Chris and leave. But reality didn't like her as much as her own mind did.

The only sound was that of her crying, and her gasping for breath in between sobs. Nico's breathing was so quiet she could barely hear or feel it. Only his vague pulse beat periodically against her trembling fingers, and Lily was dreading the moment when it would fade forever.

She had given up on hoping that something new would happen, that something would save him. They had been in a similar situation once before, and they had made it out. But luck didn't feel like helping her out again.

A deathly silence settled over the passage, and Lily stayed still, curled over Nico like a vine, her lips pressing into his hair. His skin seemed to be cooling off, as the heat rose off him and was absorbed by the frigid cave air. Lily was letting her tears drip into his hair, unsure if he was alive or not and beginning to mourn him, when she heard something. Voices.

"This is terrible," a familiar female voice said, sounding anxious. "Where do you think they even are?"

Lily raised her head, her heart pounding like a caged animal trying to break free. Dare she hope? Desperately, she pressed her hand to Nico's chest, to his neck, but couldn't tell if the pulse she felt was his or hers.

"Here somewhere," an equally familiar voice responded, also a woman's. And with a swooping sensation in her stomach, Lily recognized the voices.

"Persephone? Aphrodite?" she called down the passage.

"I knew it!" Persephone exclaimed, and a burst of light illuminated the passage. The two goddesses were picking their way through the suddenly flower-covered hallway, both dressed in immaculate and matching one-shouldered and sleeveless dresses with slender gold belts around the waist. Persephone's was white, and Aphrodite's red. "Where is he?"

"Here," Lily said in a small voice. She had just gotten a good look at Nico, and was fighting the urge to hurl. The burns were practically invisible, even though she knew they were there – after all, she had felt the charred skin. But there was blood everywhere. In some areas it was congealed and black, in others it was red and fresh and still running. Lily turned away, tears pricking her eyes again, his hands held tightly in his.

"Oh my," Aphrodite said after a moment, her hand pressed to her mouth in shock. "Oh my."

"Don't just stand there, help me!" Persephone kneeled down next to the couple, turning the rocks in her way into lilies, just as she had done all the way down the passage. "Okay, this might take a while." She smiled at Lily, patting her on the head lightly. "Don't worry. He isn't dead yet, and I can help him."

"I thought you hated him," Lily whispered, her voice saturated with tears.

"I like you better," the goddess laughed, "And Aphrodite here has me convinced that you're both adorable together. Partially because according to your dads, you should not be within five feet of each other. I thought we went over this already."

"Let's start," Aphrodite said, settling down on Lily's other side. "Sweetie, you might not want to watch," she added, looking at Lily. "This is going to be a little…"

"Graphic," Persephone suggested. "I'll tell you when we've finished. But by all means keep holding his hands."

Lily gulped and looked away, squeezing Nico's hands so tightly that her own shook with tremors of pain. The cave interior flickered with light as the goddesses began to do something behind her back. Lily didn't really want to turn around – she'd seen more of Nico's blood lately than she could handle.

Persephone had brought the sweet fragrance of flowers with her, and Aphrodite nearly reeked of designer perfume. The combination was enough to drown out the metallic scent of blood cloying the air, and for once Lily found that she couldn't even complain about whatever expensive Chanel perfume Aphrodite had decided to wear. Or maybe Gucci or something.

Lily lost track of the time, scuffing her combat boots against the ground and playing with Nico's limp fingers, laying her palm against his and placing her fingers in the gaps between his. The smell of flowers grew stronger as the minutes ticked by, overpowering the designer perfume that seemed thin and shallow by comparison.

Finally Persephone sighed, and the light diminished slightly. "We're done," she announced, pushing back her light brown hair. "Take a look."

Lily turned around, a smile stealing over her face as she took his form in. The blood had been siphoned off, and the burns had vanished without a trace. The cuts that had bled so profusely, probably inflicted by falling rocks, had thinned out so they appeared to be papercuts, red lines on his olive skin, which still had a vaguely grayish tinge to it, but wasn't nearly as bad as it had been.

"Thank you!" A crazy grin was spreading over her face as she took in his body. She could almost ignore the bloodstains all over the ground now.

"No problem," Persephone smiled, while Aphrodite nodded in agreement, stroking the petals of a rose Persephone had conjured. "I'm not Apollo," Persephone continued, "And I'm sure my husband could have put him completely right in a moment, but I did what I do. This boy," she said, touching Chris's elbow, "Is relatively okay. He should wake up in a few minutes. Nico might take half an hour."

"Shall we get out of here?" Aphrodite glanced distastefully around the dank passage and the bloodstains near her, wrinkling her nose prettily. "This place isn't somewhere I want to be."

Persephone nodded tightly, hooking one hand around Nico's arm and another around Lily's. In moments, Lily's hair began to swirl around her as they vanished, and rematerialized on the ledge outside the narrow passageway, where Jessie had removed Leo's shirt completely, using it to dab away most of the blood, and scrape at some of the scabs. With the help of the nectar she had been dousing him with and her own efforts, Leo's wounds seemed to be at least cleaning, if not healing, themselves.

"I can help him," Persephone said, swooping down over Leo and brushing Jessie lightly aside. She began passing her ringed hands over his wounds, murmuring soft words, a soothing melody, and the cuts began to widen slightly, revealing red and black blood and torn tissues. Lily wanted to protest as blood began seeping through the openings, but Aphrodite laid a hand on her shoulder, warning her to hold her tongue.

Lily bit her lip, understanding why Persephone had told her to turn her head while she'd healed Nico. The wounds were widening further, and slowly, the tissues and then skin began to knit together, increasing the blood flow from the cuts as the skin hissed as it merged again.

"Lily?" Chris sat up, blinking in confusion as he looked down at his tattered shirt but nearly flawless skin. He, at least, had escaped those acid burns Nico had suffered, making his wounds less severe. "What is going on?"

"Not sure," she mumbled, still staring at the healing process before her.

"We need to get back to camp," Jessie said, her eyes fixated on Leo's mending body. She was sliding her fingers through the curls in his hair, playing with them. "They're under attack, and we've got both you and Nico here. They need us."

"Nico won't be fighting," Lily said firmly, her eyes stealing over to her boyfriend's prone form. "We're going to leave him, Leo, and Chris in the Big House to recover. And then you and I are going to go kick some monster butt."

"I'm coming," Chris said, standing up, albeit a bit unsteadily. "Clarisse needs to know I'm okay. How's Nico?"

"He'll be okay," Lily replied shakily. Nico's close shave with death – again – had scared her more than she wanted to show or admit, to herself or anyone else.

"I have to go," Aphrodite said worriedly, twisting the silk of her dress between her hands. "Persephone, will you –"

"I'll take them," Persephone answered quickly, sending the other goddess a strained smile. "You should go. Tell him you were looking through my gardens with me. I planted some new roses I wanted to show you, and got carried away telling you about them, all right?"

"Who?" Lily asked.

Aphrodite spoke over her. "But will he know that we've been –"

"No," Persephone said decisively. "My husband is entirely too powerful for him to know where you've been and what you've been doing. None of the other gods can see what's going on down here without coming in person, and if they do, he can sense them, and most try to avoid that. Obviously, some minor gods are foolish enough to think he won't notice."

Nodded, her face serious, Aphrodite disappeared.

"I need to take you all back to camp," Persephone said, standing unsteadily, her face pale. "Lily, you and Jessie will need to fight the…" Her voice trailed off into silence, her eyes narrowing as she tilted her head to the side. Listening.

Frowning, Lily tried to hear whatever had captured the goddess's attention. At first her ears detected nothing unusual, but gradually they began to pick up something faint. A soft, almost indiscernible rumbling. But she didn't realize what it was until a pebble clunked softly onto her head, knocking an impending sense of disaster into her head.

"Grab Nico!" Persephone shouted to Lily, taking Jessie's hand in hers and reaching for Lily with the other. "Chris, get Leo! Jessie, hold on to everyone else!"

After a few minutes of intense scrambling, during which the ground began to roll under their feet, they all pressed up against each other in a large group hug, and Persephone whisked them away just as the ledge began crumbling beneath them.

They rematerialized in Persephone's garden, near a large fountain surrounded by a vivid green fuzz of neatly trimmed grass, which in turn was lined by magnolia trees, their soft fragrance perfuming the sweet air. The fountain, in the middle of which stood a statue of Hades with his hand around Persephone's waist, gurgled gently behind them, and Lily was filled with a longing to stay there and never leave. It looked like a snapshot from a fairytale.

"Stay here," Persephone ordered, "And give Nico some nectar in a little bit if he doesn't wake. Same goes for Leo. I have to find my husband."

And just like that, she was gone.

"We should wait ten minutes before giving them any nectar," Jessie said, sitting down on the grass and crossing her legs. "Chris, take a nap. You need it. If anything happens, we'll wake you. I promise."

Yawning, Chris stretched out on the lawn and was asleep in minutes.

Lily perched on the smooth obsidian making up the fountain, looking up at the figures standing together. Hades was wearing a confident but slightly cold expression, but whoever had made the statue – and Lily suspected that Persephone had done it herself – had given Persephone a soft, nearly loving expression. Trailing a hand in the cool water, watching the liquid slosh over her fingers, Lily sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming here?" Lily stared at her hand, watched a thin red stream flow behind it in the water. A cut she hadn't realized she had sustained had reopened with the touch of the water, mixing her blood with it. "I could have come with you. We could have come with you."

"No, you wouldn't," Jessie said coolly. "You were all caught up in your own lives, I saw you. Just let it be, okay? You're all here now."

Lily ran her tongue over her dry lips. The blur in the water that was her reflection wavered slightly. Just like her confidence. "Will they all be okay?"

"Probably," Jessie said, and Lily heard a note of her own fear in her friend's voice. "I think Persephone knew what she was doing."

"Yes, I did," Persephone said, materializing in the middle of the lawn and hurrying towards them. "Listen, I have to go. Typhon has just been unleashed, and all the gods are up on Olympus, ignoring him and arguing amongst themselves. Hades and I are going to go up there and get them to fight him. You demigods will have to transport yourselves back. Get Nico to take you when he wakes up." She snapped her fingers, and a small brown bag appeared on the fountain besides Lily. "More ambrosia and nectar, if they need it. Good luck."

And she vanished again. Lily finally turned from the fountain, her heart beginning to pound with fear and adrenaline, the Sea God half of her raring for the fight, and the human half of her shrinking from the very thought of it. She saw Jessie's eyes shining with anticipation, and winced inwardly. No monster was going to escape Jessie's bow tonight.

Lily's eyes drifted to the boys still passed out on the grass. Soon, they would wake. Soon, they would remind Enyalius, Typhon, and their cronies that demigods and the gods were a force to be reckoned with. Soon.

**A/N: Please review! Pleeease! I'm trying to wrap this story up soon, so I would LOVE your feedback in terms of endings and all that. And on an unrelated note, please go listen to Ronan by Taylor Swift! It's a beautiful, heartbreaking song about a four-year-old cancer victim. It makes me cry every time I hear it. Stand up to cancer! **


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Nico woke to a pounding feeling in his head, and sore muscles everywhere. Groaning, he rolled over onto his left, retching as his head began to spin. Cool hands fell upon him, tilting his face up and supporting his neck and shoulders. A bottle was placed to his lips, and Nico drank greedily, recognizing the taste of nectar. Lily's voice was nearby, saying something to him, but the words all ran together, the sounds splitting apart in the middle of phrases and sentences, rendering everything she said incomprehensible. He gulped at the nectar until it was taken away. In a few more moments, the world stopped spinning.

"Nico?" Lily's worried face entered his field of vision, and he pushed himself up on his elbows, full of dismay at the cuts and bruises on her face and body. There were bloodstains on her clothes and even on her skin, and they were so large. His panic must have shown on his face, because she flung her arms around his neck, nearly cutting off his air supply, and murmured, "The blood isn't mine, it's yours."

Nico wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her wavy black hair, rubbing the leather of her jacket, pressing his lips to her neck, breathing hard as he remembered how close he had come to never seeing her again. "What happened?"

"Persephone and Aphrodite." She stiffened, and pulled away from him. "Nico, we need to get to camp. They're under attack, Typhon is loosed somewhere, and the gods are being stupid somewhere up on Olympus. They need our help."

Nico nodded, and then blurted out, "Chris? How is he? And Leo?"

"They're fine," Lily said, and Nico closed his eyes as she began smoothing his hair back from his forehead. "Actually, they've both woken up too."

Standing, Nico gave Lily a hand, and she took it, pulling herself up gracefully from the ground. She tucked a few locks escaping her braid behind her ear and scuffed one boot against the other, looking hot and bothered and slightly nervous. Mostly hot.

She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, and Nico blinked. "What?"

"Did you hear what I just asked you?" Jessie asked, tossing Chris the bottle of nectar as soon as Leo had finished with it. "Can you shadow-travel us to camp?"

Nico sighed. He had known they would ask him for this, and he couldn't refuse. They really did need to get back to camp. But he had a sinking feeling inside as he forced his quivering muscles to be strong, pushing exhaustion and pain out of his mind until he could deal with it later. If Bianca could give her life for others, he could suffer for a while.

Popping a square of ambrosia in his mouth and ignoring Lily's protests, Nico dragged everyone towards him, holding them all close. He could feel Lily pushing up against him, and suddenly disengaged from the crowd, crushing his mouth onto hers before she had figured out what was happening. Her lips had already been parted and Nico wasted no time, twining his tongue with hers and sucking on her lips, eliciting soft moaning sounds from her.

But he had just begun to remember the taste of her, savoring her softness, when she braced her hands against his shoulders and, with difficulty, extricated herself. "Nico, we have to –"

The way she said his name, breathlessly, made him forget that they had somewhere to be, that very possibly their friends were dying at this very moment. He kissed her again, forcefully, bruising their lips with his intensity and not caring. Lily was kissing him back, furiously but passionately, and suddenly she bit his lower lip so hard that he tasted salty blood. Panting, her cheeks flushed a becoming red, Lily stepped back.

"Nico, we have to go."

Unable to remember how to speak, Nico reentered the group hug, making sure everyone had a tight hold on him or someone holding him before closing his eyes and focusing, waiting for that connection with the darkness, the shadows, that let him shadow-travel. It took longer than usual, probably because of how drained he felt, but he felt that familiar coolness trickle down his body as he melted into the shadows, taking them with him.

And no amount of dread or anticipation could have prepared them for what they were seeing.

Camp Half-Blood looked like a hurricane, tornado, and earthquake had all torn through it. Cabins were left in shambles, trees lay on their sides, the ground was muddy and squelchy under their feet. But some of the cabins were on fire, the flames crackling and leaping up towards the sky in their wavering dance of destruction.

Nico heard Jessie gasp, Leo and Chris make noises of disbelief, Lily give a little choking sound. In the distance, dark stormclouds had gathered, lightning flashing through them every few seconds, occasionally spearing deep into the ground, starting small fires that sometimes burned out, sometimes grew larger.

"Where is everyone?" Lily asked from beside him. He could hear the anger in her voice, but didn't turn to look at her. He couldn't tear his eyes away.

"With Typhon." Leo's voice, so steady despite the shock, cut through the cocoons of incredulity surrounding them all. He raised a finger, pointing. "There, look. Where the clouds are."

Nico narrowed his eyes, trying to decipher what was going on further away. And suddenly he noticed tiny specks running around on the ground. "Let's go," he said quietly, drawing his sword. But his legs didn't move.

Jessie and Lily, on the other hand, sprang into action, loping across the soft and muddy ground with easy, measured strides, Jessie stringing her bow as they ran.

"I don't have a sword," Chris said, looking at Nico.

"Me neither. That dumbass god took mine." Leo gave Nico an expectant look.

Grinning, Nico unhooked a knife from his belt and handed it to Leo. He then reached down his shirt and pulled out the knife he had kept around his neck, giving it to Chris. "Careful," he warned. "The blades are Stygian iron. If you touch them, they'll kill you. Remember that."

Without another word, they broke into a run, but slower than the girls'. All three of them were tired, and in pain, and fighting off waves of dizziness that assaulted them at infrequent intervals. But the thought of their friends and siblings being in danger, very possibly without any gods to help them, spurred them on.

"I hope the gods have figured out their stupid argument about thrones," Leo wheezed as they sprinted towards the general fog and chaos, "because we're all going to die within an hour if they haven't."

Nico swallowed. Death was already makes his nerves tingle. Within minutes he could make out Typhon's form in the swirling clouds, and felt his heart begin to pump faster and faster. Typhon was huge, huge and terrifying, but Nico knew better than to waste time looking at him. Fear could paralyze, and he had no time for paralysis.

As if from a distance, he could hear screams, hear voices shouting. Lightning flashed ominously in the whirling storm clouds gathering above, a deep mixture of purples, gray, and black. Suddenly a hand hooked onto his elbow and Nico spun around, raising his blade to deliver a fatal blow, when he froze.

Annabeth was holding him, looking slightly crazed. Her eyes were wild, her curly hair flying about her, dents in her breastplate and blood staining the knee of her jeans. Tears cut clean tracks down the dirt on her face. "Have you seen Travis?" she screamed at him over the noise.

"No, why?" Nico frowned.

"He went looking for Katie Gardner and Connor's going crazy trying to find him! He's been gone for almost half an hour, and Isabelle's trying to keep Connor here." A choking sob escaped her throat, her grip so tight on Nico's elbow that it hurt. "I thought it was him," she gasped out. "I thought all those times he was disappearing and Connor didn't tell us where he was…" Annabeth wiped her eyes furiously, looking angry with herself. "He was dating Katie, and he didn't want anyone to know because her siblings didn't approve! And I thought…I –"

"It's okay," Nico said, awkwardly patting her on the shoulder. "I'll get a ghost on it. We'll find him."

"But who is it then?" Annabeth fixed him with her gray eyes, demanding a response.

Nico bit back the words on the tip of his tongue: that she had thought he was the spy. That she probably still suspected him, at least to some degree. She didn't need to know how much he always knew. "Who says there is one?" When Annabeth only gave him a blank stare, Nico huffed angrily at her. "There isn't always a spy, Annabeth! There isn't always a traitor! Just because Silena was forced into it last time doesn't mean that's the way this always works, okay? Can you deal with that?"

"There is someone," Annabeth whispered, her voice quavering. "And I know because Percy is dying."

"What?"

"He was with Chris and Leo and Connor, and the four of them were attacked by a griffin, a few hydras, and I don't know what else, that's all he managed to tell me before he passed out! I moved him and gave him nectar, but I don't know what else to do! And he was going to try to sneak over to the pegasus stable, get Blackjack, and go up to Olympus to see what the gods are waiting for! Obviously someone didn't want him to make it!" She pressed her lips together, and Nico felt something like fear worming its way inside him.

"Lily," he gasped suddenly, and fear for her made him leave Annabeth standing there and run, run to find her.

Lily stared at Typhon's bulk as he stormed through the woods of the camp, scattering and uprooting trees in every direction. He wasn't paying the campers racing after him any attention, and she had to admit to herself that she understood why. He moved much faster than they did and was much stronger. She had nearly tripped over bodies as she followed Typhon, and had a terrifying hunch that some of them would never get up again.

She glanced up at the sky, blowing wisps of hair escaping her braid from her face. Where were the gods? If they didn't show up soon, Typhon would finish ransacking Camp Half-Blood and would move on to trashing Manhattan. Hopefully they weren't up there having some stupid argument while their children were dying trying to fight their battles for them.

A gale-force wind whipped into her suddenly and Lily felt her feet leave the ground. Fear lurched through her body as she flew backwards several feet before slamming into the ground, hard. Pain snapped from one synapse to the next in her spine, and Lily lay there, unsure if she could even get up, when she heard something that forced her to. A loud scream. And it was Isabelle's voice.

Scrambling up, Lily stumbled a few steps forward before regaining shaky balance and trying to find Jessie. But there were now small dust storms swirling through the air, particles flying into her eyes and nose, and Lily coughed, doubling over, trying to penetrate the landscape around her. She could see something burning to her left, and could hear a tree creaking ominously somewhere close by, but couldn't figure out anything else.

Suddenly someone shouted loudly nearby, and Lily took a blind guess and took off, running to her left. She was still holding her sword tightly, but was beginning to doubt that it was any use. The way things were going, they would all probably be dead in a few hours. The sky was darkening as night approached, and besides the thunderclouds there was no sign of the gods.

She had been looking up at the sky while running, but Lily realized her mistake a few seconds too late. With a loud thump, she crashed into a tree and back into the ground for the second time in minutes. Hot blood trailed down her face from a long cut on her cheek, and Lily pressed on the wound for a few minutes before giving up. She began to run again, this time being careful to circumvent the tree, leaving drops of blood forming a gapped trail on the ground beneath her.

The wind was picking up speed, becoming so strong that Lily tilted herself into it to keep herself balanced. Her mouth was open as she panted, and the salty taste of the blood sliding between her parted lips was making her feel sick.

The dusty mists began to move, and Lily's vision suddenly cleared. And her stomach turned at what she saw.

Connor was lying on the ground in a pool of sickeningly red blood, a gaping red wound in his stomach and his entire body covered with long scratches, some of which bled profusely. Isabelle was kneeling two feet away, relatively unhurt except for a few cuts and scrapes, holding off two hydras with her arrows.

Fumbling with her belt, tearing her eyes away from Connor, Lily pulled a knife out and hurled it into the body of one of the hydras, causing it to roar in pain. But it didn't die.

"Lily!" Isabelle turned for a fraction of a second, and then loaded another arrow. "Can you look in Connor's belt and see if he has any more weapons? I don't know how to fight these! I found the bow and a half-empty quiver on the ground, but I lost my sword!"

Lily whispered, "Okay." She could both see and hear that Isabelle was crying, but didn't comment on it. This wasn't the time. And she couldn't remember how to fight a hydra either. But she didn't want to even go near Connor. She could see his leather belt, half of it shredded to scraps, soaked with his blood. It appeared empty, and Lily recoiled from the thought of even touching it.

"Lily!" It was a male voice calling, and when it shouted her name again, Lily threw her head back in relief.

"Nico!" she screamed, feeling her lungs burn from the volume of her cry. "Nico, come quick!"

She hurled another dagger towards a hydra inching terrifyingly close to Isabelle and then drew her sword, running towards them.

About three steps farther, something wrapped around her waist, knocking her backwards. Lily put out a hand to break her fall, and saw Nico leap over her and bellow something. The ground shook, and split apart before him, revealing a jagged crack.

A skeletal hand reached out from the ground and gripped the edge of the crack, and Isabelle screamed as a horde of skeletons clambered up, hoisted their bulging guns or swords, and took on the hydras, which disintegrated in seconds.

As the skeletons dispersed, Isabelle fell to her knees beside Connor. "Nico, is he…?"

Lily bit her lip. She could see the hesitation in Nico's face, and knew he was wondering whether to lie or not.

"He's got a few minutes," Nico whispered, moving to stand behind Lily and putting his arms tightly around her, burying his face in her hair.

Turning, Lily pushed her face into Nico's chest, rubbing the back of his neck with her hand. She could feel him make a soft sound of dismay as he traced the gash on her cheek with a finger, but ignored him. She could hear Isabelle beginning to cry, but didn't turn, feeling like she should give her friend some space. But even she was struggling to accept the fact that Connor was dying.

"Don't cry," Lily heard someone whisper. And shock made her turn so fast that she knocked Nico to the ground.

Connor was looking up at Isabelle, but for once his eyes held no trace of laughter. "I love you," he rasped, his gaze intent on her face. He drew in a rattling breath. "Nico. It's Leo. I saw his communicator."

Nico nodded, his face as still as if it had been cut from marble.

Connor's eyes fluttered before finding Isabelle's again, and he began to whisper something to her as her tears dripped onto his face.

Lowering her eyes, Lily stepped back, her hand closing over Nico's wrist as she pulled him away with her. He came unresistingly, and she knew he understood her desire to give them some privacy. They both turned their backs, and that decision would haunt Lily for the rest of her life.

A sharp twang sounded, and Lily jumped. Nico roared with anger, and bounded from her side. She spun around and screamed. An arrow had pierced Isabelle's back from behind, and had dug its head into Connor's chest. The couple lay there, in their mixing blood, and Lily felt her mind reeling and her knees growing weak as she realized exactly what their stillness meant.

Her eyes flicked upwards, and Lily felt fury inflame her breast as she saw Enyalius, still smirking, dueling with Nico. And she could see the bow he had dropped behind him, painted as red as the blood of her friends.

There was no time for denial. She darted towards the fight, her blade and her heart raging with bloodlust, knowing no desire but that to plunge the celestial bronze into Enyalius and watch him writhe, if he could not die. At that moment, she learned how hate could feel, so empowering and yet terrifying. It promised you revenge, but made you tremble to even contemplate how you might achieve it.

She wanted to cause him pain, to make him feel the horror and anguish that she was feeling, to make him know how it felt to want to fall to your knees and scream and scream until your voice dies in your throat.

But before she could come close enough to join the duel, Enyalius vanished, reappearing several feet behind them both. "How does it feel?" he sneered, his eyes glinting. "It hurts, doesn't it, to lose people you care about? Well, don't you two worry, more of your little friends are on their way to meet old Corpse-Breath. How's your brother, darling?" Leering at her, Enyalius melted away.

Lily felt her heart begin to pound again, the pulse beating so strongly in her neck that she felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. "Nico," she whispered, pressing against him as his arms went around her to steady her, "Where's Percy?"

His face turned pale, and his eyes betrayed a flash of worry before he masked it. Lily felt herself beginning to shake from the combination of shock, fear, and pain assaulting her body.

"Where is he, Nico?"

Nico wet his lips with his tongue, a movement that had once made her weak at the knees. But now it only scared her further. "I don't know," he said, his voice nearly cracking with the effort he was making to keep it steady. "We need to find Annabeth."

**A/N: Please review, you guys! I really appreciate it! And also, I created a poll that SHOULD be on my profile page. If you guys could go check it out, and vote, I would really really appreciate it! It's for my next story ;)**

**And if it doesn't work please let me know and I'll see if I can fix it :D **


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Lily stared at him, pushing the pain of her friends' deaths to the back of her mind. She would deal with it later – if she looked it in the face now, she knew she would crumble like a fragmented bridge loaded with too much weight. "It isn't that simple," Lily snapped, fighting to keep her voice steady. "We can't just find her! We don't even know where she is?"

"Relax," Nico breathed, his famous poker face sliding into place. "We'll find her. I can –"

"No, you can't!" Lily shouted, jabbing a finger into his chest angrily. "You can't do anything! Percy is going to die, you heard him!"

Irritation burned through her as Nico grabbed her wrist with one hand, catching the other in midair as she tried to hit him. "Calm down," he growled, pulling her close. "I can get a ghost to find her, and we'll be there in seconds after that."

"But that'll take too long." Defeat. It tasted salty. Lily could feel it tracing liquid lines down her cheeks. She wanted to shake Nico, to scream at him that he didn't know how to she felt. That he didn't know how it felt to love and lose someone. But that would be the cruelest thing to say; she knew he knew. She also knew that she needed an outlet for her pain and fear and frustration.

Nico had already released her. He was muttering something in Ancient Greek, his brow furrowed, and the air shimmered slightly, as if parting to make way for a silvery ghost of a beautiful girl. Lily sucked in her breath slightly – Bianca. Even though she knew that the girl was definitely benign, Lily took a tiny sideways step towards Nico. She couldn't help her instinctual fear of the dead.

Her ears were buzzing with panic, and she didn't notice Bianca nod and fade away. The fires, the dirt, the screams and sounds of monsters roaring, everything was blurring together, her head pounding. Lily didn't realize her legs had given way until her knees sank into something soft and cool. Mud. Her hands gripped at the sides of her face as she crumpled beneath the weight of what had just happened – and what was about to.

Connor and Isabelle couldn't be gone. They couldn't. It was this simple. She wouldn't and couldn't believe it. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw their faces, their smiles, the way they gazed into each other's eyes when they thought no one was watching them. There was a physical pain building up behind her heart. A sort of emptiness – but how did emptiness hurt?

Hands descended onto her shoulders, pressing down gently and rubbing the base of her neck. Nico. Lily felt him kneel behind her, felt his arms twine around her and lift her up so she was standing, cuddled against him, limp.

He was murmuring something against her neck, but she couldn't have cared less. Dropping her forehead, she let it rest against him, trying to physically and emotionally offload everything she felt onto him. And judging by the way he planted himself into the ground, Nico was more than capable of handling it at the moment.

He was hardened to loss, and Lily felt immensely guilty for making him deal with hers. No doubt Nico was remembering how he'd lost his mother and Bianca, especially now that he had just summoned Bianca's ghost for a favor. But his grip on her never wavered, and his heartbeat was firm through his shirt. And she was grateful for it.

The tears hadn't stopped yet, but Lily knew she was going to get a lot worse before she could get better. They would have to go back and retrieve the bodies…assuming that everyone made it out of here alive. Typhon. Oh, gods. She had forgotten about him.

But they couldn't do anything about him anyway. The campers were caught up in either treating each other or fighting the monsters that were somehow getting past the boundaries to attack them. Typhon was too large, too powerful for any of them to attack. So as of right now, they would all die tonight.

Maybe they would all be together in Elysium then.

She was jolted from her train of thought when Nico shook her slightly. "Lily." His voice was sharp. "We have to go. He's in the Big House."

No more tears. Lily sniffled, took a deep breath, and then another, willing the smoke-tinged air to calm her. If she lost it now, she would lose her brother too. "Okay. Let's go."

The familiar sense of whirling through a hurricane surrounded her, and for a moment it felt as if her lungs were compressed so hard that she couldn't even breathe. But then Nico's arms went lax around her and Lily allowed the air to swirl down her windpipe again. She turned around and gasped.

The Big House no longer resembled what it used to. It was wrecked – the door lay a few hundred feet away, roof shingles were scattered around, the walls had collapsed, glass from the windows twinkled in the grass like fallen stars. And flames were making it shine.

The roof was aflame, red and orange tongues leaping up towards the sky, adorned with broiling thunderclouds. Percy was inside the wreckage…Lily began to feel sick. There was no way he could still be alive – two floors would have collapsed on top of him. And then there was the fire…

"Are you sure he's here?"

"Bianca said so," Nico frowned, eyeing the ruins apprehensively and wishing he was Leo. Lethal he may be, but he knew he wasn't fireproof. "And ghosts, trust me, know everything."

Lily released the hilt of her sword. It wasn't going to help her here. "How are we going to get in? The entrance looks buried."

"We don't take the front entrance," Nico said, already moving to where the side of the Big House had been and examining the wooden beams. "We can climb through here."

"I'll go first." Lily felt him pull her back as she approached the triangle of darkness leading to the interior of the wreckage, and jerked free. "I'm smaller, Nico, it makes sense."

"And what if it collapses on you?" The concern in his dark eyes made something stir inside her, a warmth spreading from the pit of her abdomen. Lily felt a blush creeping up her neck and face, but she squashed the desire to kiss him right there.

"It won't," she whispered, laying her hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. Turning, she explored the ruins of the house. Thankfully, the fire was still on the other side of the house, but she couldn't help worrying that it would spread quickly.

"Don't worry about the fire," Nico said from behind her, almost as if he had read her mind. "Can't you feel it?"

She stared at him. "Feel what?" But then she did – something cool landing on the tip of her nose. Rain. Her eyes zoomed upwards from Nico's face to the clouds above him, and she could see raindrops falling languidly down from their heavy, dark-gray homes. "Are they coming?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know." But the hope was there in his eyes, flaring despite everything. The sky was rumbling, and Lily shrieked as lightning flashed and thunder boomed simultaneously, and as they did the clouds burst.

The fire behind her hissed as the deluge crashed down upon it, but continued to burn, desperately fighting to resume its dance of heat. Lily watched the flames, watched their reflection in Nico's eyes. And felt the cold rainwater slip between her shirt and her skin, traveling in smooth rivers down her back, soothing the heated skin.

His eyes were darkening as he watched her, and Lily felt her mouth go dry as she noticed how his soaked clothes clung to his hard lines, emphasizing the outline of his body. But an image flashed into her mind, one of Percy lying in the dark, bleeding to death while she wasted her time kissing Nico in the rain, and she shakily stepped away from her boyfriend, giving him one last longing look before turning away.

She ducked down, bending over as she clambered through the narrow triangle of darkness making a hole in the pile of collapsed wood. There was a little light filtering in, and before her was a ledge a few feet long and wide. "Come on," she whispered, turning around to Nico and motioning him in. But he was rather red in the face and appeared to be wrapped up in his own thoughts. "Nico!"

"What?" He blushed harder, and Lily blinked uncomprehendingly at him. Nico was very studiously not looking at her, his olive skin turning even redder, and suddenly she remembered the way she had bent over while climbing through the whole.

Lily raised her eyebrows, fighting a blush. "Were you checking me out?"

Nico coughed. "No," he said, very unconvincingly.

Rolling her eyes, Lily turned around again. "Come on already!" Grateful for the darkness obscuring her face, Lily gave in to her blush as Nico stole through the opening. She could stand nearly upright in the sort of tent created by the angles at which beams had collapsed, but Nico was hunched over, muttering obscenities as his head nearly bumped into the drastically lowered ceiling.

But it was still gratifying to know that she could make a boy so in control of himself blush redder than a tomato.

"The floor collapsed," Nico whispered, kneeling down at the ledge and looking over. Lily joined him. It was pitch dark below them, but her fingers found the edge of the floor that hadn't given way and hooked over it. Jagged wooden edges cut into her skin.

She opened her mouth to call for Percy but Nico slapped his hand over her lips, smothering her voice. "Quiet," he hissed. "We don't know if we're alone in here or not."

"How do we go down?" Gripping the edge tightly, Lily tilted herself forward, and felt Nico shift next to her. His arm slid around her waist, tethering her to him as she tried to penetrate the blackness. "I can't see anything," Lily sighed, straightening up again.

"Hold on." Nico let go of her, and she felt a light breeze whoosh by her cheek as he moved.

"Nico!"

"Shh. I'm right here." His voice was coming from…below her?

Lily bent forward, resting on her hands and knees, crawling towards the edge. Her groping fingers found something hard – his forearm. And it was hanging off the edge. "What are you doing?" Her whisper was harsh, raspy.

"I'm going to drop," his slow, calm voice answered her, twisting up from the darkness. "If I tell you it's okay, you can come down too."

"Are you insane?" Lily thrust her hand down, clutching his wrist and searching the pitch black all around her for the other. "You could die! Don't even think about it!"

A sigh blew up at her, and seconds later pain shot through her wrist. He had pinched her already damaged wrist, pinched it hard. Lily shrieked, losing her grip on Nico's arm – and knew he had let go of the wooden ledge. "Nico!" she screamed, hearing a soft thump from below her. She could hear him groaning, and something inside her just snapped.

Hoisting herself over the ledge, Lily closed her eyes tightly and let her fingers slide over the wood, fighting the instinct to scream as she fell towards the unknown, hoping the ground wasn't too far below her.

The landed came faster than she had expected. It knocked all the wind out of her, but at the same time Lily was conscious that it had been softer than it should have. And from below her came a cry of pain.

"Nico?"

A grunt answered her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lily whispered. She rolled off him, her breast heaving as she sucked in mouthfuls of the musty, dusty air. What a time to begin rhyming. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Nico said, his voice tight with pain. "Landing was not the most comfortable thing, but I'm alive."

She reached out in the dark, touched something rough and hard. A low chuckle tickled her ear, and Nico's hand covered hers. "Lily," he said, mirth in his soft voice, "You're touching my hip, not my hand."

Blushing, she twined her fingers with his. He had strong hipbones…What?

"Wish we had a light," Nico muttered, pulling her along behind him as he took slow, careful steps. "Can't see shit in this light."

"Can't you see in the dark? Son of Hades and all that?"

"I can sense stuff," he said, his breathing loud in the unnatural quiet, "But I can't really see. So I had a feeling dropping from up there wouldn't kill me. I didn't know it would hurt this damn bad either. So I can keep us from crashing into walls, but I can't – freaking hell!"

"What?" Lily drew her sword, careful to keep the blade away from where she heard Nico's voice coming from, and from where his hand grasped hers. Panic made her heart thud again, and she wished desperately she could see. How could she defend herself in the dark?

"There's someone here," he hissed, switching her hand from his right to his left. She heard the harsh scraping sound of his blade being drawn, and then silence. Nico was holding on to her so tightly it hurt; he was crushing her fingers in a cocoon of his, but she didn't complain. This way she knew where he was.

Then she heard it too – a soft swish, almost as if silken robes were swirling together. A ghost of a breath, barely audible. And then nothing.

Lily moved, pressing her back against Nico's, pushing up against him until she felt his hard body as clearly as if it were her own. Her breathing sounding loud in her own ears; too loud. She felt as though she were shining the bright beam of a flashlight into the dark, shouting, "Come get us! We're right here! One injured demigod and one scared one thrown into the bargain!"

"Why, hello, little heroes," a mocking voice said, and it was so smooth, so oily, Lily imagined it running into the dark, blending with it, like watercolors whirling into each other with no regard for boundaries on their paper.

Nico sucked in his breath behind her, and she felt his hand slide down her arm from her elbow to her upper wrist, gripping her tightly. Squeezing. One word. "Morpheus."

She shivered. The god of dreams, she knew that much. But Nico's voice sounded scared – and he rarely sounded scared. But what could the god of dreams even do?

"My, this one looks frightened." Morpheus stepped out of the dark, black robes swirling around him, the dusty ruins suddenly illuminating with just enough light that they could see him. He stood close to Lily, and she backed away from him, feeling Nico turn to stand beside her. "Are you scared, little girl?"

She huffed at him, irritated. Just because she was a girl did not mean she was the weak link!

"Get lost," Nico snarled, venom dripping from his lips with his words.

"Are you angry?" Morpheus smirked, and it occurred to Lily that Morpheus was a bizarre, twisted version of Hades – with the pale skin and black robes, they even vaguely resembled each other. But Hades exuded power and confidence, even danger, while Morpheus…she wasn't too sure. He gave her the feeling to be careful of her surroundings, that if she let down her guard he would slip a poisoned dagger in between her ribs. But only when she wasn't watching. As if he was afraid to attack head-on, as many of the more powerful gods often did.

But he was still dangerous – Nico's initial reaction had proved that much.

"You see, I have a problem," Morpheus continued, stepping in a slow circle around them. Lily planted her feet firmly, refusing to back into Nico for protection. Never back down. "I can't have you two running around. Enyalius has asked me to…get rid of you. Put you out of commission, if you will."

Lily glared at him, bending her knees slightly, preparing to move fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Nico, who was standing perfectly still. But his face was flickering again – he seemed to be half part of the shadows and half human. And half god. Screw the fact that they didn't add up properly.

"Scared yet?" Morpheus breathed, vanishing and reappearing behind her, making Lily spin in a dizzying arc. "You should be."

Nico was gone. Her brain registered it dimly, and Lily slowly became aware that her mind moved as if through resin. Panic flared in her chest but her sudden lethargy dimmed it, and sleep made her eyelids heavy. She sank under it, as if under a warm blanket, letting it claim her, closing her eyes upon the cold, fractured wooden floor.

"Lily!" Someone was shaking her, and irritation at being woken finally overcame her drowsiness. Lily opened her eyes, blinked once, and screamed.

A huge, hulking figure was crouching beside her, its eyes red and gleaming, fangs glistening by its chin. Its breath was fetid, stinking of blood and death, hitting in the face like a blow as it opened its mouth. Its body, though, was shrouded by the dark.

For a moment she froze, paralyzed by fear, unable to react, and then everything snapped into place. Lily leaped up, and the creature seemed to rear up as she did, bright green spittle flying from its mouth, sizzling holes in the wood upon which it landed. Poison.

She swung her sword, pausing for a moment to admire the graceful, gleaming arc it made as it sliced through the air. The monster roared as she slashed it, and again green blood ran from its wound, the poison making a loud hissing noise as it burned into the wood. A droplet had landed on her skin, and Lily collapsed to her knees, howling as it stung and burned her flesh. A tiny drop.

When the pain ceased enough for her to glance up through streaming eyes, Lily was shocked. The creature had vanished. Even the holes in the wood were gone. But her skin still burned, blood oozing slowly from the wound. Such a small wound. Such a pretty green. All sparkly. Lining the angry burn it had inflicted on her like stars around the moon.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. Wooziness settled slowly on her, like a honeybee lazily droning along to its desired flower. A slight sound behind her made her turn.

Spiders. A new terror. They were large, fat, hairy, some even bigger than her palm. Their legs made sharp scuttling sounds as they scurried towards her, and Lily backed up until her back was pressing into the wall. The arachnids surrounded her, and she closed her eyes and screamed as she felt those hard legs weight down her jeans as they began to climb up her legs.

Something inside her snapped and she began to kick her feet, screaming until her throat burned as they passed her hips and began climbing her abdomen. She couldn't shake them off; the terrifying things were resilient as anything.

And then one bit her. She heard the snip of the pincers, felt it pierce cloth and skin as it bit her on the midriff, and doubled over, sobbing and shrieking at the same time. The pain was nearly unbearable, a sharp, stabbing pain that recurred over and over, never fading to even a throb. Warm blood flowed over her, and it seemed to signal something to the others.

They were all biting her, climbing over her neck, her arms, and Lily felt sick, her stomach heaving, her body and mind screaming with fear and pain. Her sword was in her hands and she raised it, desiring nothing other than to end her misery now.

But someone knocked it from her hands, someone grabbed her and held her down as she screamed and thrashed, fighting with the desperation born of absolute terror for her freedom. She could still feel spiders swarming over her, racking her body with fresh waves of agony as they bit her, but finally Lily opened her eyes to see who was pinning her.

It was the final straw. The hideous, terrifying creature from earlier had returned, its eyes glimmering with malice, and Lily snapped. Her vision spun, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted cleanly away, her last thought full of regret. She would never see Nico again.

Nico stared down at her, his chest heaving. The building was shaking, and he could hear roars of rage – probably from Typhon – as well as a conch blowing loudly. He'd heard it before. The call of Poseidon. The gods had finally arrived, but he would miss the showdown.

Not that it mattered. His entire world had fallen apart – again. Morpheus had done something to her, messed with her mind, and Lily had gone haywire. He'd shadow-traveled to behind Morpheus, intending to stab the god from behind, but instead Lily saw him coming out of the darkness with his sword raised. But that didn't explain her reaction. She knew he would never hurt her, right?

Maybe she didn't. Lily had stared at him, the expression in those gorgeous aquamarine eyes tearing him apart. Terror. She had never looked at him that way before, and he knew it would haunt him for the remainder of his life – which, judging by the tremors in the ground and the ominous swaying of the ruined building, might not be all that long anyway.

Lily had thrashed when he tried to hold on to her, had fled as soon as she got the chance. And then…he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling them burn at the memory. But his mind, his traitorous, merciless mind, wouldn't stop the replay. He saw her twitching, saw her staring at nothing on her legs, by her feet, saw her jerk and scream and collapse under the weight of something he couldn't see. When he'd tried to help her, she had only gotten worse, her raw screams of pain and fear ripping through him. But he'd seen no blood on her skinny frame…

The muscles in his arms and back tensed as he lifted her limp form up from the ground, cradling her to his chest, supporting her head and gazing into her still faced, watching the still lashes, the still mouth. The still chest.

He knew she wasn't dead, he could sense that much – but her life force was fading fast, being sucked away by some unseen force. Desperate, Nico shook her, screaming her name till his voice was hoarse. Lily's head flopped from side to side, her lips parting with the motion. But this time she didn't look up at him in that sexy way as she invited him to kiss her, her cheeks flushed with his nearness. This time, she was unresponsive. Dying. But he didn't want to use that word.

"Lily," he whispered, his lips moving against her cold skin. "Lily. Princess. Please!" It was cruel, he thought dully, that he, the son of Hades, should be unable to save the girl he loved from death.

His finger moved of its own accord, tracing her eyes gently. Those fascinating eyes. "Come back, princess," Nico breathed, pressing his mouth to hers. It was cold, lifeless, and for one of the first times in his life he felt his eyes begin to burn, and he squeezed them shut, feeling his heart thudding irregularly against his ribs, as if it were trying to escape his chest cavity. Maybe then he could die with her, escape into the Underworld with her, never be forced to leave her. They could lie together in the dark forever, buried beneath the completely collapsed rubble. They would never be found. They would become a myth, shrouded in mystery. They would remain as one.

He felt something liquid and hot trickle down his face. One tear, then another…Nico gave in. Pulling Lily close, he buried his face in her wavy black hair, breathing as deeply as his shaking shoulders allowed, hoping to catch a whiff of her vanilla scent. But it was gone, and she smelled only of blood, dust, and death.

The building shook even more violently, and a shower of dust and wood shavings fell upon him, coating his shoulders, hair, and neck with a fine pale powder. Nico laid her body carefully on the ground, aware that her heart still beat in her breast. Stretching out beside her, he drew her close, the way she would have snuggled up to him if she were still able. His face found the skin of her neck, and suddenly he detected that vanilla scent he could always identify her by, and he gulped in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to stem those desperate hot tears. He hadn't been so shaken up since Bianca had died.

A wave of anger rolled through him. What had Morpheus done to her? Turned her waking moments into a living nightmare? A boom of thunder made the very ground vibrate, and Nico heard the drone of a steady downpour from up above. Hopefully Morpheus was getting what he deserved. But then there was Typhon…

Lily stirred beneath him, and Nico hugged her closer, kissing the side of her neck sadly, wondering if he was just imagining the pain in his chest, in his heart. Wait. Had she moved? She had seemed too faded to move. He lifted himself off her, giving her space to breathe. Waiting.

"Lily," he whispered, bending to her ear, "Princess, can you hear me? Wake up. Please. I love you. So much." His voice cracked, his breathing shifting her hair slightly.

Waiting again. He seemed to be spending his entire life waiting. When he was an old man, would he be married to a little old woman with startling sea-green eyes and wavy hair? Or would he remember this tension, this wait, this longing to see her smile?

Pain. That was the first thing Lily was conscious of. It wasn't unbearable, just there. A throbbing beneath her skin. She heard someone whispering something. "Princess, can you hear me?" It was Nico's voice. "Wake up. Please. I love you." A long pause, a rasping breath tickling her ear. "So much." Lily heard his voice crack, felt something splash onto her cheek, and that did it.

But it was so hard. She wanted to open her eyes, but it felt as if she just didn't know how. She lay there, burrowed deep into the dark recesses of her own mind, struggling to pull herself out. And as she did, the pain intensified, until a sharp stab of it tore through her.

With a gasp, her eyes burst open.

Instantly Nico was hanging over her, his eyes wild, fractured, red. A lone tear trailed down his cheek. "Lily!"

Lily smiled at him, ignoring the pain the simple motion caused.

"How do you feel? What happened?" His arm moved behind her back and Nico gently pulled her into a sitting position, her back against his chest. He was kissing her hair.

"There was something here," Lily whispered, slowly laying her hand on his arm, gripping it. There was something comforting about him, that convinced her that monster that had earlier been menacing her couldn't attack her now. She told him about what she had seen and felt, speaking slowly for fear of being overwhelmed by her pain.

"There weren't any spiders," Nico said, hugging her tightly. "And no monster. That was just me, and I wasn't even attacking you. And you didn't hurt me at all! Morpheus was messing with your mind."

"Percy!" Lily jumped to her feet, stumbling as sharp spines of pain drove like needles through her. Nico steadied her.

"Crap," he muttered. "Crap. Crap. I forgot!"

"Where is he?" Lily looked around frantically. How could she have forgotten about her own brother? "Can you sense him? Is he still alive?"

"Bianca!" Nico bellowed, his voice loud over the rumbling thunder and rain. "Bianca!"

The girl's ghost appeared a moment later. Bianca was frowning, looking worried. "Go straight behind you," she said softly, pointing. "He's still alive, just very banged up. Very. You'll need to hurry! And he's in one of the collapsed bedrooms – there's ambrosia a few feet away from him. You'll all need some. Go!"

They were moving before she finished and melted away, Nico scooping Lily up into his arms and running with her as soon as he realized she couldn't keep up with him. He could feel her trembling slightly, probably with the aftereffects of what Morpheus had done to her. But right now the main concern was Percy.

Nico saw a solid mass beyond a partially caved in doorway and ducked down to go through it, before lowering Lily down beside it. She crawled over to it, shaking Percy, shrieking his name, while Nico searched for the ambrosia packet in the dark. There was a squished plastic bag with some inside nearby, and he broke off a large chunk and devoured it, before giving Lily an equally large piece. And then he turned to Percy.

"He's doing fine," Nico said, feeling dizzy with relief. He could sense it – Percy was nearly as alive as usual. Just, as Bianca had said, very banged up. But Annabeth had been convinced he was dying!

"He smells of perfume," Lily said, confused. The distinctive scent reached her nostrils. "Designer perfume. Aphrodite!"

"She loves to meddle, doesn't she?" Nico rolled his eyes.

"She keeps saving all of ours lives! Don't be so rude." Lily scowled at him through the dark, slipping a piece of ambrosia into Percy's throat and massaging his throat to make him swallow. Something struck her. "The rain stopped," she said, looking up. "It's stopped. Do you think everything's over?"

"It's possible," Nico shrugged. "We've been down here for a while. I hope it is. I don't want to fight any more."

"Me neither." Lily crawled to him, the ambrosia already soothing her body. Straddling his lap, she began to kiss him furiously, her neck bobbing like a bird's as her lips constantly opened and closed, in time with his. His hands were traveling all over her abdomen, caressing her midriff, rubbing her spine, gripping her neck, playing with her hair.

It was something familiar they both slipped into easily for comfort, but every time brought something new. Nico had a sudden fixation with her collarbone – he broke the kiss, ignoring her whine of disappointment, and suddenly bit her clavicle, coaxing a cry of surprise from her.

As he began sucking on her skin, Lily felt heat seep through her, pulsating from the pit of her abdomen, butterflies taking flight under her skin. She was moaning, and couldn't help it. He made her feel so nervous, so scared, but so alive. Lily was aware of every inch of her body, the way he had flipped her under him and was pressing against her, his hips hard against hers.

She busied herself with his upper body, running her hands up beneath his shirt, marveling at his thin but strong back, the way she could feel muscles shifting as he moved. Whenever she stroked his lower stomach with a single finger Nico would stiffen, freezing and growling in the back of his throat before attacking a new spot of her skin. She was aware that her leather jacket was unzipped, and suddenly she felt it fly off her completely, leaving her in a black V-neck, one that exposed a good part of her upper chest, although hiding most of her cleavage.

Nico had now devoted himself to a spot about two inches below the hollow of her neck, low enough to make her uncomfortable. But with him, discomfort was an impossibility. Lily's breath hitched every few seconds, and he had also pushed her shirt up so far that nearly her entire stomach was bare, rubbing against his shirt.

His lips fused with hers again, their tongues dancing together, and Lily felt herself moaning and whimpering into his kiss as his fingers began to rub circles around her navel, pressing gently into her flesh. Her body was on fire, and she was lifting herself up from the hips, pushing into him, desperate for something, although she didn't really know what.

And then his fingers pushed too hard and she squealed.

"What?" Nico's voice sounded so deep, so husky, that Lily kissed him again.

"Tickles," she mumbled, settling into his arms, letting his body absorb her heat. Lily kissed his neck lazily, tracing his collarbone with her finger. She shivered suddenly, and his warm hands brushed her midriff as he tugged her shirt down again. But those hands remained under the material, resting on her sides.

"I love you," Lily breathed, her head resting on his heart. Listening to the steady beat.

"I love you too."

A few days later, Lily stood with his fingers twined tightly with her own, tears streaming down her face. Chiron, his arm and leg bandaged, was overseeing several funerals of dead campers. Isabelle and Connor's shrouds were lit as one, both a lovely shimmering gray decorated with an owl taking flight, a caduceus held in its claws, looking down at it with love in its bird eyes.

Annabeth and Travis had both tried and failed to make speeches, overcome by sobs. Lily had gone up instead, clinging to Nico's hand, unable to speak. "I love you," she choked out, her breast heaving, her breaths uneven. "I wish you didn't have to go. You both had so much more to live. You were always there for others who needed you, even when you could have been with each other." She sniffled, wiping away her tears. "I hope you're together now. I hope you always stay that way. And I hope you're happy, in a beautiful place. We love you. We miss you. Goodbye."

Nico had walked her away, letting her cry on him, his face stony. But the grief was clear, raging like a storm in his dark eyes.

The gods had won the battle. They had subdued Typhon after a furious battle. But this time the Big Three had united, fighting together and with full strength. That, coupled with the presence of the other gods to combat the minor gods, had led to a victory in a relatively short time. Things remained much as they were. The minor gods had been denied thrones, but were invited to Olympus on solstice days to convene with the other gods.

"They'll be okay," Nico told her as they sat by the creek in the woods, their feet in the cool water. "My dad promised me. He's sending them to Elysium."

"Thank you," Lily smiled. It had been a month since the funeral, but the pain and loss were still fresh in her heart and mind.

"I love you so much," Nico mumbled, his face buried in her neck. Lily laid her cheek against his silky hair, loving the feel of it on her skin.

"Don't ever leave me," she whispered, feeling his arm snake around her.

Nico kissed her softly, pressing his lips to hers for a delicious minute before pulling back, his dark eyes of midnight showing nothing but love. A side of him others never saw, but she rarely went without. "Never."

The End

**A/N: THE END! Thank you sooo much to everyone who stuck with me throughout these stories! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SOO MUCH. You all mean the WORLD and the entire GALAXY to me! Your support is the most beautiful thing. Please keep reading my stories! I love you so much. Reviews? For the last chapter of this story ever? THANK YOUUUU. Cockapoo xxx**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Hi again! You didn't think I would leave you epilogue-less, did you? Before you read this, THANK YOU to my reviewers, to my readers – especially those who favorited me or the story, and those who subscribed. YOU ROCK. Enjoy the epilogue! Please keep me on alert for future posts or stories! **

**Cockapoo xxx**

Epilogue

Leo tossed a stone into the lake, staring at the ripples, not hearing the splash. Ever since Connor had announced before dying that he was the spy, he had been avoided, ignored. Shunned. Only his cabinmates had asked for his story. Only they had stood by him. Jessie had melted away. He hadn't even seen her since that battle…and it had been a full week.

He had thought Lily and Nico would come to find him. Nico would have understood, and Lily maybe. But she loved Nico enough to respect his opinions. And she trusted him. Leo had underestimated their elation at the end of the war, however. The two of them were rarely seen, preferring to hide out in Nico's cabin or the woods, spending all their time together. They were always holding hands, kissing. Lily laughing while Nico tied flowers into her hair, twining it into terrible braids and tickling her neck with them.

Watching them hurt. It reminded Leo of his times with Jessie…and she was ignoring him now. He hadn't even seen her during the fight, and he hadn't seen her after. Even Percy and Annabeth were constantly with each other. Katie spent every moment with Travis, holding him tightly and walking him through the grief of losing his other half. It was as if Aphrodite had the entire camp under a spell – except him.

How could she not even want to know why he had done it? Leo hugged his knees to his chest, feeling a tear slip down the bridge of his nose. He was blamed for the deaths of Connor and Isabelle, as well as Percy's injuries, although Aphrodite had saved him. Bitterness coursed through him, even though he tried to push it away.

The gods played favorites; that was common knowledge. Aphrodite had taken a liking to two couples: Percy and Annabeth, and Lily and Nico. Which was probably why she helped them so much, saving them time and time again when they should have died. She interfered a lot more than most gods or goddesses should. Why couldn't she have saved Isabelle and Connor? Was that too hard? Or did she just not care?

The lives of demigods, Leo decided angrily, were less important to Aphrodite than how her mascara was looking at any given moment. The sky was clear, the weather beautiful, but inside him a storm was raging, tearing him apart. What was life when the ones you loved abandoned you?

Nothing, that's what it was. Leo stood shakily, turning away from the smooth surface of the lake glittering in the afternoon sun and headed for the woods, aching for their darkness. The sunlight burned his skin.

In the Apollo cabin, Jessie's eyes fluttered open. She was lying on her bunk, staring up at the ceiling, her ears ringing from all the noise her siblings were making with flutes, guitars, drums, and tambourines. She was still in pain, but maybe today she would be able to move.

And she could. Jessie sat up, grateful for the pillows someone – probably Will – had stacked up behind her so she could sit with ease, leaning against them. Thirstily, greedily, she gulped at a sippy cup full of nectar. Sippy cup. She loved those two words. They sounded so cute.

Drawing up her legs, Jessie crawled to the edge of the bunk, looking down to the floor so far below, panting as pain assailed her. But it was bearable now. She had been bedridden for the past week, having fainted from numerous injuries and the shock of hearing that Leo had delivered Connor and Isabelle and so many others to their deaths. Apparently he had almost killed Percy too.

She couldn't believe it. She had tried to leave two days ago, to find Leo and talk to him, but Will had refused to let her leave, knocking her out instead. But now he was gone, probably out with some girl fascinated with him. Girls liked him.

Shimmying down the ladder, wincing as her weak left ankle took her weight, Jessie scampered as fast as she could out of the cabin, squinting as the bright sunshine assaulted her eyes. In minutes she was at the lake, looking out over its shimmering blue expanse, something inside her wilting as she realized Leo wasn't there. Damn. He loved the lake, she knew. So where was he?

She knew he wasn't in the Forge, because when she'd passed it she had heard Nyssa asking Jake where Leo was.

Limping away, Jessie walked to the fringe of the woods, peering in nervously. Would he really be in here? She didn't know. The trees rustled softly as a breeze blew through the leaves, creating moving shadows on the ground below.

Voices came towards her from up ahead, and Jessie sped up.

"Jessie?" It was Annabeth's voice, and Jessie slowed down, disappointed.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Should you really be walking around already? Will told me you were seriously banged up. Broken ankle and what else?" Percy glanced at Jessie's foot, and Jessie blushed as she noticed how close he was to Annabeth.

She shrugged. "Couple cuts and bruises. The worst was this gash on my stomach, but it's healing. The ankle's almost good as new. But what about you, Percy? I thought you were even worse than I was."

Annabeth laughed, wrapping her arms around Percy's waist and giving him a loving smile. "Aphrodite healed him a bit, so he wasn't too bad. Lots of bruises, some nasty cuts, but nothing was broken. He's healed a lot in the past few days." She slapped her palm on his chest lightly. "He scared me so badly once everything was over. The gods didn't hang around, right, they just left, and Percy came staggering up to me, gasping something about whether or not I was okay, and all I could think was that he was bleeding everywhere…Nico had shadow-traveled him and Lily out but left him somewhere he thought was safe…And I was so sure he was going to die, I didn't know what to do…" Annabeth blinked back tears, and Percy bent over her, kissing her gently.

"I would never leave you alone," he whispered, curling a blonde lock around his finger. "I know you'd die without me." And a roguish smile to completely ruin the moment.

They began kissing more passionately, and Jessie backed away into the trees as she watched Percy slip his hand under Annabeth's shirt, both of them indecently close. But Jessie didn't really care. She would be behaving even more naughtily if she had Leo there with her.

She picked her way carefully through the trees, navigating the ground slowly. The trees were beginning to thin out, and suddenly they fell away from around her completely. Rocks rose before her. Zeus's Fist.

And at the very top was a very familiar figure. Curly black hair silhouetted against the sun, and a thin body strengthened and muscled from time in the Forge. "Leo!" Jessie shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Leo! Come down!"

But he didn't turn around. Jessie stared up at the rocks. They weren't too tall, but climbing them with her half-healed injuries would be difficult. But difficult didn't mean impossible.

Gripping the rocks with her hands, Jessie began to scale them, grateful for the many potholes that created convenient positions for her hands and feet. She used her left foot sparingly, but whenever she did it stabbed her with pain. And the pain grew into a consistent dull throb knocking at her mind. She couldn't push it away.

The gash on her stomach began to sear with pain, but Jessie was so close to the top. So close to Leo. Groaning with the effort, the muscles in her back screaming, Jessie hauled herself over to the flat top, collapsing, gasping for air.

"Jessie?" Leo's hands pulled her upright, and she supported herself with one hand, panting.

She turned her eyes on his, drinking in the sight of him. But there was no glimmer of mirth, of mischief, in his eyes now. Jessie wanted to kiss him, but first she needed to know. "What happened?"

"Enyalius threatened me," Leo said quietly, refusing meet her gaze now. "If I didn't do what he wanted, he would kill you. He said that he had Morpheus tailing you, and the moment I didn't listen to him he would have Morpheus drive you insane before he'd kill you. And he gave me so many graphic descriptions of what he would do…Morpheus sent me dreams of you dying, tortured, screaming…I couldn't handle it." Leo's voice broke.

Jessie reached out, shuffling to his side and putting her arms around his chest, laying her head on his shoulder, rubbing his back. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Do the others know?"

"I didn't tell anyone. No one actually talked to me. My cabinmates still treat me like they used to but I just can't…" Leo turned to look down at her, and Jessie felt him stiffen within her embrace. "Why didn't you come? I thought you wouldn't believe that I wanted them to die, I thought you would be there for me!" Leo shouted, standing up and shoving her hands away. The pain in his voice tore at Jessie's heart. "I thought you loved me," he whispered.

Jessie struggled to stand, but her ankle wouldn't support her. Leo's back was still to her. "I do love you," she choked out, willing herself not to cry. "I couldn't come, Leo!"

He whirled to face her, his face twisted. "Oh, really? Were you too busy crying over Connor to come find me? I don't matter at all, do I? I'm always just the extra – you were just with me to have someone to care for you! You can always find someone else, can't you?" A tear slid down his face.

Jessie closed her eyes, feeling tears escape her shut lids. "I couldn't come," she said, struggling to keep her voice steady, "Because my ankle was broken, because I had cuts and bruises everywhere, because I had a gash on my stomach that didn't close up till yesterday, and because Will wouldn't even let me move." She took a shaky breath. "You mean the world to me, Leo! I don't want to…I can't live without you. I'm always here for you. You aren't extra to me, Leo. You're what matters. Everything else is just background music."

Her vision blurred as the tears came faster, and Jessie buried her face in her hands, hating the weakness. For a moment nothing happened, and then she felt his arms around her shoulders, his face in her uncombed, messy hair.

"I'm sorry," Leo breathed into her hair, shaking nearly as much as she was. "I'm sorry." There was a pause, where Jessie relished the feel of his hold.

"Wait," Leo said, his voice suddenly sharp. "How did you get up here if your ankle is broken?" He pulled back, and she looked up at him.

"It works now," Jessie said, "It just hurts a little. But I can still climb."

Leo stared at her. "You're insane."

"I'm just crazy for you," Jessie grinned.

His elfish eyes twinkled at her as a smile broke over his face. "I am lovable like that."

And Jessie felt her eyes flutter shut as his lips finally closed over hers, Leo's arms pulling her close. Everything was okay.

Lily blushed, watching the figures atop Zeus's Fist. "I told you they would make up," she said, turning to Nico, who stood beside her wearing his usual black jeans, black Vans, and black shirt with a grinning skull on it. One thing that would never change about him was his terrible taste in clothes and a lack of interest in wearing color, no matter how hard she tried.

"I never said they wouldn't," he returned, taking her hand in his and pulling her into the trees.

They walked together, Lily releasing his hand and wrapping both of hers around his arm instead, leaning against him slightly. "How are we going to –"

"Chiron's explaining to everyone right now. Bianca promised me to let him know the moment Leo told Jessie. We thought she should hear his explanation before everyone else did."

"I'm glad she told you why he was doing it. I don't know what I would've thought or done otherwise."

"I asked her."

"How do you think of everything?"

"I'm just amazing," Nico grinned. Lily slapped him lightly. "What?" He laughed down at her, taking a few steps back, his hair blowing slightly in the warm breeze. "I am."

"Keep dreaming," Lily giggled, running and him and jumping on him, tackling him to the ground. She was laying on top of him now, her eyes about level with his chin, her feet resting on his shins. Even though they kissed each other nearly half of each day, maybe even more, his proximity always made her heart beat faster, made her every nerve tingle with nerves and anticipation. Aching for his touch.

Nico laid his hands on her hips, and Lily felt her heart quivering as it beat. His eyes were glued to hers, and she felt herself blushing as he gazed at her, watching her every reaction. And then those warm hands slipped under her shirt, lazily fingering the skin at the two dips in her waist, one on each side, and Lily shivered. Nico chuckled, the deep sound vibrating against her. She dropped her head, kissing his collarbone, loving the way it stuck up, the precipice of skin it created.

Nico nuzzled her, his soft hair tickling her neck until she raised her head, and then, deliberately, slowly, he ran his tongue over her lower lip, smirking as her breast heaved, her breathing quickening, her cheeks flushing.

Lily felt a tightening at her navel as his dark eyes darkened further, focusing on her lips, which she parted in invitation. He didn't wait a second longer. Nico's lips crashed onto hers, and Lily felt his abs tense into a delicious hardness beneath her body as he lifted himself up to kiss her at a better angle, his head tilting along with hers.

His tongue was exploring her mouth as if for the first time, and Lily matched him for passion, running her hands through his hair, partially straddling his hips and partially laying on his chest. The dance their lips and tongues engaged in made her heart pound, her head spin, her entire body tighten and scream for more contact with him.

Without breaking the kiss, Lily fumbled with his t-shirt, pulling away from his lips just long enough to lift it over his head and toss it away. And then they were kissing again, as if they hadn't tasted each other for months. She ran her hands over his warm, toned abdomen, finally resting one on his shoulder and another on his side, devouring him. He tasted wonderful on her tongue, the smell of him lingering in her nostrils. Everything was so sensory with him. If she died now, Lily thought, as his tongue twirled hers, she would die happy.

Nico had left one hand on her waist, but even as his lips left hers to torture her pulse point, his other traveled slowly up her spine, rubbing it gently as it ascended. Lily had collapsed against him, her body limp, her eyes closed. She moaned and squealed as his teeth and tongue did things to her, her pulse beating frantically against his lips. He smiled against her skin.

Then he slowly, torturously, licked the love bite he had just created, eliciting a whimper from her, coaxing trembles from her body. Lily's head was pounding, along with other parts of her body, and she was conscious of that hand still traveling up her back, now touching the skin just below the clasp of her bra. They had never done this before…was he going to…

"Nico!" As he had so many times before, Percy stepped in to ruin the moment, to break whatever tension the two had going. "What the hell is your hand doing so far up her back? And Lily, get off him!"

Lily sighed, burrowing her face into Nico's shoulder. Her heart rate was slowing, but she didn't think she could move. Nico had managed to completely exhaust her.

"Percy!" Annabeth's voice now. Lily kept her eyes closed, panting against Nico, loving his skin against her face. "Percy, leave them alone. Come on."

Percy protested.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain. We're going," Annabeth ordered, and Lily heard their footsteps receding.

Silence.

"Your brother is an idiot," Nico said, sliding his hand back down her spine. Lily shivered, turning her head on his shoulder.

"I love you," she mumbled. It seemed important to say, even though he'd heard it before.

Nico nibbled at her earlobe, catching it expertly between his teeth, making her gasp. "You, princess, are nearly as amazing as me."

Lily traced circles on his abdomen, waiting until she felt him tense to look up into his beautiful dark eyes, smirking at him. "I know you love me."

He bent and kissed her softly, chastely, on the lips. He lay back on the grass, and Lily snuggled into his side, burying her face in his chest, letting him finger her hair and push up her shirt slightly so he could run his fingers along her waist. His heartbeat was steady against her cheek. Nico was hers. All hers.

Lily smiled as she intertwined their fingers, captivated by the way they fit together so perfectly, the sunlight shimmering against their skin. If this was love, she didn't think she could live without it.

They had made it.


	23. Chapter 23

Hi Everyone! Just a quick note – my new story is up! It's for the Inheritance Cycle and is called Falling In. Please check it out! Hope you like it! It is, of course, a romance. Among other things. Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and subscribing! Love you!

Cockapoo xxx


	24. Updates! :)

Hi guys! Quick update – I have two oneshots posted for Nico and Lily! One of them is titled A Night to Remember and can be found on my profile page – the other is in the story Subway Experiences 101 by Pokemonchen. It's basically a bunch of authors contributing oneshots – all of them are great, and mine is chapter five! Hope you guys enjoy reading, and I hope everything is going well for all you beautiful people :)


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